Darkside
by emeraldwolf
Summary: YAOI! RikuxSora.SPOILERS! Sora and Riku were drawn into the darkness in the beginning of the game. What happened that caused Sora to become the keyblade master and not Riku. Focuses on Riku throughout the game. DARK! yaoirape finished
1. Darkside

I did a happy Kingdom Hearts fic, so now I'm doing a dark one. If you don't want to see the boys get played with and treated none too nicely, do not read. This fic is dark, I'm trying to make it as dark as possible. Enjoy and leave a review. ^__^  
  
  
  
Sora lay in his bed, staring at his ceiling. His thoughts continued to revolve around his best friend. Tomorrow the three of them left for new worlds and adventures. But still, was that what Sora really wanted. An image of those deep aqua eyes flashed into his mind.  
  
"Riku." Sora whispered as his mind wandered. Ever since he could remember he and Riku had been together, playing, competing, everything. But a few years ago, everything changed. He wanted more. More from Riku and more for himself. He had started to feel jealous over Kairi and the attention Riku gave her. Riku should be his, and not some stupid girls. Sora lifted his fingers to his lips and wondered what a kiss from a boy would feel like. A few years ago he had been kissed by Selphie. It hadn't been altogether bad, but it didn't make him feel any different. It gave him less emotion than when Riku did nothing more than look at him.  
  
The sun had set a while ago, and shadows were creeping across Sora's room, darkening everything into shades of night. 'Like in my dream.' The giant shadow of Sora's dream hadn't left him, and he wasn't sure yet what it meant. 'Maybe its telling me something.'  
  
"Sora, time for dinner!" Sora sat up to head his mother's call, when he happened a glance out his window. A dark cloud was forming over the island across the reef. It swirled in a dark mass in the sky and lightning flashed from it. The soft brown spikes of Sora's hair where gently tossed back as a strong wind picked up.  
  
Sora gasped. "Oh no, the raft!" He dashed out of his window and ran for his boat as quickly as he could against the strong gusts of the storm. His oar pushed him powerfully through the black sea. The waves churned and neither his reflection nor his shadow could be seen in the purple waters. When he finally reached the dock, he immediately noticed Kairi and Riku's boats tied up nearby. No doubt they both came to check on the raft as well, escaping from the island was as important to them as it was to Sora.  
  
The second his heavy shoes struck the old wooden dock, Sora could tell something was wrong. Looking around, he tried to figure out what felt strange. He could feel the static in the air, but that was no different than any other summer storm that came by the island. Slowly, Sora's eyes drifted down to his feet, where something caught his eye. His shadow was moving away without him.  
  
Without warning, his shadow grew upwards, and two small yellow eyes appeared in it. 'Those creatures, from my dream.' The dark shadows crawled towards him, multiplying out of the ground faster than he could count. Sora pulled out his ever present wooden sword and rushed through the pack of creatures, slashing at any of them that came too close. Their little antennae waved in the air before they would leap at him slashing with their claws.  
  
As Sora headed for the paopu island where the dark cloud hovered, he noticed yellow eyes were appearing in every corner of the island. The shadows came alive with those yellow points, and attacked.  
  
Riku stood in the wind, enjoying the way his shoulder length hair swept about him. Lightning flashed above and he opened his eyes, looking into the swell of darkness above him. It would take him away, finally. 'But what about the others?' Something inside Riku knew he shouldn't leave without Sora and Kairi.  
  
"Sora." Riku shifted his gaze over the ocean towards the island where their houses were. No doubt, Sora was still sleeping in bed. Alone. Just once, Riku wished he could make sure that neither of them would be alone in the darkness of the nights on the island paradise. 'What about Kairi?' That other part of Riku's mind was yelling at him again. He knew that he cared for Kairi, and she was one of his closest friends. But he didn't feel any fire within him when he was with her. Not like with Sora. Those blue eyes set him on fire with just the barest of looks. Riku had tried, in all honesty, he had tried to like Kairi as a boy should like a girl. But every time he did, he would wish it were Sora standing there.  
  
"RIKU!!"  
  
Riku stood very still as his heart raced on without him. That voice. Turning around slowly, expecting his imagination to have finally gotten to him, Riku saw the brown haired boy running across the bridge.  
  
"Riku, what's going on? What is that?" Sora pointed up at the hole in the sky above him, growing larger and blacker every second. He truly looked lost, searching for an answer from the one person who he knew would never leave him.  
  
Riku felt something around his shoes. Shifting his eyes down, he could see a dark shadow growing beneath him and Sora. It moved as if it were alive, like a fog only much too thick. It began to crawl up his legs and weave its way around both him and Sora.  
  
Sora gasped at the strange dark being which was sucking he and his best friend into it. When he looked up he saw Riku's extended hand, with the black glove which had become the boy's favorite piece of clothing. His hand flew to meet the other, but the darkness pulled him down faster, and pulled Riku out of his reach. Both pushed against the shadows, but it seemed as if their hands continued to grow farther and farther away from each other.  
  
Riku took a deep breath as the black puddle reached his neck and he could feel it flowing over his body like water. His frightened aqua eyes looked to Sora's for help, but he couldn't see them anymore. Only the top half of Sora's head remained above the void, and even that was now being snatched out of reach. Riku closed his eyes, held his breath, and let himself be taken down. If Sora was there, he would save him, they would be together.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Sora fell. Riku fell. Neither boy could tell for how far or how long. Like a black snake, the darkness curled around their bodies and squeezed against them.  
  
Riku finally couldn't hold the breath any longer and gasped as it was forced out of his body. He cautiously took a breath and found that he could indeed breathe as if there was nothing out of place. Then he felt his back land on something solid. It wasn't soft and giving like the sand he had grown up on. It was smooth and hard. Like metal. But when Riku tried to figure out where he was, all he could see was a floor of black. There was no ceiling or wall, as far as he could tell. Everything faded into the darkness around him. The only thing he could definitely feel was the floor below him. 'Sora!'  
  
"SORA! If you're here answer me!" Riku jumped to his feet, and half expected the floor to swallow him again. When it seemed sturdy enough, Riku began to run around yelling at the top of his lungs. If his friend was nearby, he would find him.  
  
"Riku? Riku, where are you!?!?" Sora bellowed as he walked in a circle. 'Do I run in a direction? Where to go? There's nothing here.' Sora continued to squint into the darkness which surrounded him now. It was eerily calm. No sound, and no wind. The ground no longer shook with the thunder of the storm and no lightning flashed. There seemed to barely be enough light to see by, and even then it was only for a little way ahead.  
  
Sora finally determined that he was not going to run around and get himself lost in this dark world and sat down. If Riku was here, he was bound to find where he was. Riku was, after all, the more adventurous one. 'There is no way Riku will just stand around. He'll search for me.' Setting his head in his hands, Sora waited for a glimpse of his beautiful rescuer.  
  
Riku paused and leaned over, panting. He had chosen a direction and taken off full tilt and had been running ever since. But still, no change and no sign of Sora. It was as if this whole place was on a loop. There was still no wall or ceiling, and the floor may as well have been the very same one he started on. And still no red jumpsuit in the shadows.  
  
After catching his breath, Riku stood up and finally, his eyes found something new. A figure in the darkness. Around twenty feet ahead, the figure was in shadows and had its back to Riku.  
  
"Hey you." Riku took a few steps forward before stopping when the figure turned around. It took a few steps toward him as well. And now the outline became all too familiar.  
  
"Sora."  
  
"Riku!" Sora jumped up and ran forward as he saw a figure walking towards him out of the unfathomable darkness. He could tell from the height and the outline that it was Riku, he was walking forward slowly, with his head down. Finally Sora stopped.  
  
"Riku?"  
  
The dark figure lifted its head and Sora took a step back. It had yellow eyes. Bright, glowing yellow eyes. And now Sora saw that it wasn't the shadows which made this figure dark, those were its colors. It looked exactly like Riku, but there wasn't a speck of color on his entire body. Everything was in shades of black. Except the eyes.  
  
"Sora."  
  
At this Sora looked at the figure in shock. He had Riku's voice too. 'Could this place make someone look like that?' Sora looked down at himself, but he was as he had always been. Same clothes. Colors and all.  
  
"You're not Riku. I don't care if you sound like him, you're not."  
  
"Is that you Sora?" Riku couldn't move, the shadowy figure was still facing away from him, but that hair was unmistakable. But the entire figure was cloaked in black, the clothes he wore were indeed Sora's, but not the right color at all. He walked even closer until he was right behind the figure who's back still faced him.  
  
"It's you, isn't it Sora?" Riku reached out and placed a hand on the figure's shoulder. Slowly, the shadow turned around, and Riku stared deeply into it's glowing amber eyes. He removed his hand from the warmth that felt much too real for him. The shadows must be playing tricks on him, this can't be Sora. 'Nothing could change Sora like that. Those eyes. And I haven't changed the way I look, so it must be a trick.'  
  
"Hello Riku."  
  
Riku looked sideways at the creature, it had Sora's voice. There was no mistaking it.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
The shadow of Riku took a few steps toward Sora. In turn, he took a few steps back.  
  
"Answer me! I know you aren't Riku."  
  
"But I am your best friend Sora." Sora stopped and stared intently on the shadow Riku. 'That can't be him. I won't believe it.'  
  
"You're not. Now tell me who you are!" Sora shouted at the figure and took a step forward, feeling braver now.  
  
"I am Riku. Or at least, I'm part of him."  
  
"Part."  
  
"Yes, a part that you would be most delighted to meet." The shadow disappeared completely, though for all Sora could see he may as well have only taken a step back and blended with the shadows.  
  
Strong arms wrapped around Sora from behind and he flailed and kicked out of panic. The arms surrounding him were shades of black and purple, dark colors. He looked up and was less than surprised to see the shadow standing behind him, smirking. Riku's smirk.  
  
  
  
Okay, I hope the change of scenery at the end there didn't confuse you too much. I'll be going between Riku and Sora a lot in the next chapter, so get used to that change. The place they're in is kind of like when you're fighting SPOILER Ansem at the end of the game. When you go into the rooms filled with shadows and dark balls and such. I tried to describe that, I did my best...really. ^_^ anyway, review please. 


	2. Lost

WARNING: YAOI AND RAPE. Don't read if you don't want, and don't flame me if you did and aren't happy.  
  
The Sora made of shadows turned around and gazed out into the darkness. Riku stood wondering what he should do next, not quite sure of what to make of the situation.  
  
"That can't really be you. You're so different from the Sora I know." Even to his own ears, Riku sounded as if he were convincing himself of this fact.  
  
"Not that different." The shadow took a few steps back and places himself against Riku, pulling his arms around him. With his arms wrapped around the shadow, and his chest against the others back, Riku was too shocked to move for a few moments. Then the Sora moved his head and affectionately rubbed it against Riku's face, smiling at him with its black smile.  
  
Riku inhaled the scent of the shadow, calming, it smelled of salt water and sand. The ocean. Their island. He smelled so real, and he felt soft and warm in his arms.  
  
"Let go now!" Sora pulled away from the shadow only to have him hold on even tighter. Sora tried to fight his way out, but he couldn't break the strong hold of the Shadow Riku behind him. His arms were still wrapped around Sora, one around his waist, and the other across his chest.  
  
"What's wrong Sora? I am doing something," the shadow leaned over and let his lips hover next to Sora's ear, ".wrong."  
  
Sora involuntarily shivered as he whispered in his ear, a silky, sexy tone in Riku's usual playful voice. 'No. This isn't the Riku I know.'  
  
Sora pushed again and the shadow's arms seemed to have loosened.  
  
The shadow giggled back at Riku, as the boy stared at him in confusion. The shadow Sora stood there, staring back at him with those entrancing yellow eyes.  
  
"Oh come on Riku. I know you want to." The shadow let the end of the sentence hang in the air. Riku didn't know whether to be frightened by the tone the shadow said it with, or turned on. Then the Sora shadow reached over and took a hold of Riku's hands in his own. He pulled himself close again, the dark face getting closer and closer to Riku's.  
  
Riku gasped as the warm and soft lips touched his. Pressed against them in a sweet kiss. The shadow didn't taste nor feel as Riku would expect. More like what he had dreamed Sora would. Riku didn't pull away from the kiss, if this really was Sora, he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings. Or at least, that's what Riku told himself. He was enjoying the kiss as much as the shadow was.  
  
Riku grabbed his wrists and glared at him with his yellow eyes flaring angrily. He pulled the smaller boy to him, Sora trying to fight his way out of it. Then the shadow's lips were pressed to his, and he was being held in place by the strength of the shadow of his best friend. A dark tongue forced it's way into Sora's mouth, and the boy tried to pull his head back, only to have it stopped by Riku's hand. The dark creature tasted good, and his tongue felt like warm velvet against Sora's. But the ginger haired boy continued to struggle and even to try and bite at the other.  
  
Riku slowly began to work his way into the kiss, placing his hand on the back of the shadow Sora's head and opening his mouth. The pressing tongue of the darkness found it's way into Riku's mouth and was intent on reaching as much of the aqua eyed boy's mouth as possible. The shadow even lightly nibbled on Riku's tongue, causing the older boy to gasp once again.  
  
The shadow stopped kissing Riku, and forcefully wrapped Riku's arms around himself, and his own around the taller boy's waist. He leaned forward, pressing himself against him.  
  
Again Sora tried to fight his way out of the dark hold of his best friend. But Riku clung to him tighter than ever. Even if the shadow was a mere copy of Riku, he had his strength and that was enough to hold Sora still. Slowly, he leaned down, letting his mouth return to Sora's ear. The soft strands of shoulder length hair brushed against Sora's cheek. He shivered in disgust at his own reaction to the strange person. Then the shadow spoke, in that smooth and disarming voice that Sora had grown up with.  
  
"I know you want it Sora. I've seen it in you."  
  
Sora took this chance to try and break away again, but the shadow let go of him and grabbed his face. He leaned forward, and thinking that he intended another kiss, Sora brought up his hands and pushed against the shadow's face.  
  
The shadow placed it's hands on Riku's face, and something compelled Riku to let go of his waist. The shadow Sora looked down at the arms hanging at the silver haired boy's side and brought them up, placing them on his own face. The shades of black and purple were shadows on the shadow's face, and Riku gently ran his finger over the cheek of the dark Sora. It smiled at him, before bringing his face closer.  
  
"I know."  
  
Confusion swam in the deep green eyes, and Riku opened his mouth to question the shorter boy.  
  
"You don't think I do. You're still convinced I'm not the real Sora." The shadow paused for a moment and looked up into Riku's eyes again.  
  
"Its true isn't it, you don't think I'm the real Sora." That voice, the hair. 'Maybe it really is Sora.'  
  
The shadow leaned in, placing his forehead against Riku's and staring him down.  
  
"I know what you dream about Riku.how you dream about me."  
  
"I know what you fantasize about, with your best friend, he plays the starring role in your dreams, doesn't he?" The shadow shouted down at Sora as he pressed their faces together, practically snarling at him. Sora felt his face go slack and his skin go pale.  
  
"How." 'Would you know about that? No one knows how I feel about Riku.'  
  
The shadow laughed, before giving Sora a forced, stolen kiss. Sora took a few steps back, now released from the creature's arms, and gaped at him.  
  
"Oh yes, I know it Sora. After all, I'm Riku. And I dream about you too.but the dreams are different."  
  
The shadow paused for effect and to enjoy the confused look on Sora's face. The boy with the dark blue eyes looked shaken by the private information being revealed to him by either his best friend, or a stranger look-alike.  
  
"I see it from above, not below." A dark smile broke across Riku's shadow as Sora whipered quietly, "No."  
  
Riku looked over curiously at the figure in front of him. The shadow had taken a few steps back and was grinning at him.  
  
"How do you know what I dream about? Even if you are Sora, you wouldn't know that." But no response from his companion. Just that same smile. Then the black figure winked at him, and Riku felt himself flush. 'Wait a second. Why is my heart beating faster?'  
  
"How about I spell it out for you Riku." The shadow seductively took a step forward.  
  
"R." Riku became even paler than usual.  
  
"A." "Stop it!" Riku yelled back at the approaching figure of Sora.  
  
"P." The silver haired boy began to tremble, in fear, in disgust, and in anger.  
  
"-" The shadow opened his mouth, a mere foot from where Riku stood, but a hand covered his mouth, silencing him.  
  
Sora tried to scream out, but it was no use with the black glove and shadow's strength holding his mouth shut. Then the figure smiled with an evil gleam to his dark face. With a grunt, and a quick push, he sent Sora to the floor.  
  
Sora looked up into the strands of black hair gently waving in his face. Riku had him pinned down, and his hand still covered Sora's mouth.  
  
"What's the matter Sora, you look less pleased by this than you should?" Riku then ground his hips against Sora, pinning him further beneath him. Sora threw his head to the side, not wanting to see the shadow's face, even as he felt himself becoming more and more excited.  
  
"Haha. Now that's much better." The shadow stopped pressing against the boy underneath him, and leaned down, and removed his hand from Sora's mouth. Once again, he leaned his dark figure down over the boy, and stuck his tongue out, gently flicking Sora's ear.  
  
"Isn't this how you pictured it Sora? In all your dreams. All the times Riku would do this to you. And all the times you'd wake up sweaty and sticky." The shadow licked Sora's ear more, and the boy beneath him shuddered.  
  
Memories of those dreams came back to Sora. It wasn't fear that caused him to wake up with a pounding heart. But in his dreams, there was one difference. It was Riku, the real one.  
  
"Get off me!" Sora yelled and struggled under his captor. The darkness just laughed. Then he pulled Sora's arms straight out from his body.  
  
"Hold him down." Black bands, having come from the very floor, reached up and grabbed a hold of Sora's wrists and his shoulders. The boy's sapphire eyes filled with fear as the shadow began to undue the buckles which held on his dark clothing.  
  
"What are you doing?" Riku yelped as the shadow grabbed onto him and threw itself to the floor.  
  
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Sora's shadow kicked out Riku's knees and the boy fell onto him completely. The shadow groaned from under Riku's hair and bucked upwards, crushing himself against Riku. A red blush spread across Riku's cheeks as he realized just how much he was know enjoying this.  
  
The shadow's hands pulled his face down, till its lips were again at his ear.  
  
"Rape me."  
  
Riku shivered at the words, harsh and grainy coming from Sora's throat. The boy let go of Sora completely. He lay back down, and spread his arms out to his sides. Riku sat up partially to look down at the shadow. It was lying beneath him, in a submissive form of helplessness. Riku couldn't help but feel the desire in him growing, the figure beneath him looked so much like Sora. The hair. The soft, warm skin. The clothing. Everything but the colors. 'He asked for it. He wants it. I'm not doing anything wrong by giving us both what we want.' Riku suddenly felt very hot. Too hot. He reached up and undid the buckles on his shirt. Seeing the hungry look on the shadow's face, Riku slid the yellow shirt off and threw it to the side.  
  
Sora smiled up at him, and licked his lips. The shadow then seized Riku's hand and brought it down to his chest. He maneuvered it with his own, until Riku was holding the zipper of the black outfit the shadow wore. Slowly, shadow Sora slid his hand and Riku's down his chest, undoing his jumpsuit in one quick movement.  
  
He reached down and snatched the zipper, ripping it downward. Sora could barely move from where he was now tied to the floor by the black ropes. The dark figure leaned down, and licked his collarbone, leaving a long wet trail along Sora's chest.  
  
"Stop it! I don't want this!"  
  
"Too late, you already wanted it once. And that's all it took." The black hands reached up and pushed the jumpsuit off of Sora's chest, and leaned down again. He moved to a place on Sora's side. A kiss here. A suckle there. Sora's chest rose and fell rapidly as this shadow took advantage of him. Then he felt a prick on his side and cried out.  
  
The dark Riku let go of the skin he had just bitten and sat back, looking at his handiwork. Then he finished unzipping the red jumpsuit and slid it off of Sora's body with less difficulty than he should. The ground allowed parts of the suit to simply melt through the blackness, and the ropes shifted with the movements, keeping Sora tied down. As the shadow had just barely finished pulling the pants of the jumpsuit over his ankles, Sora lashed out. His foot connected solidly with its face and the shadow Riku flew back a few feet.  
  
Riku gently kissed along the neck of the shadow, moving downward as his hand continued to unzip the black jumpsuit. Sora moaned under him and bit his lip as he tried to stay still, letting Riku do whatever he wished. Riku finished his job of removing Sora of the jumpsuit, leaving only his black boxers. The Riku undid the numerous buckles and belts he wore, and he too was left in only a pair of thin boxers.  
  
"Please..Riku." The dark figure whispered to him, tossing his head back against the floor. Then the shadow raised its yellow eyes to meet Riku's once again, and, achingly slow, spread his legs farther and farther apart.  
  
Riku let himself give in. As he crawled over the shadow and leaned down, taking his mouth with his own, he didn't even notice the darkness that entered him.  
  
The pale hands ran along the dark thighs of Sora. The shadow began to pant when he was released from the devouring kiss of Riku. The silver haired boy ran his hand up the shadow's right thigh, and slipped it under his boxers. His fast eyes caught the hitch as the dark Sora's hastily took another breath. Riku gently rubbed his arousal, making the figure below him squirm and throw his legs farther out, letting Riku get even further.  
  
Sora bit his lip as he tried to refrain from sobbing. His ankles and thighs were tied down as well, by thick black ropes that wouldn't allow him to move the slightest bit. One dark hand laid on his thigh, the other resting on his stomach, giving the dark creature balance. His smile was cold and heartless, as the shadow Riku slid his hand under Sora's boxers and grabbed him roughly. Sora screamed out as the darkness grabbed him tight and began to run his hand up and down his length.  
  
With a feral growl, the dark Riku pulled the boxers off of Sora and then ripped his own off as well, letting them both slip through the dark floor. The constraints holding Sora down loosened the slightest bit, and Sora tried to pull away. But a strong hand pressed down on his chest, holding him in place while he grabbed one of Sora's knees, then the other and propped them up. The bands gripped the vulnerable boy even tighter than before and began to curse the shadow with all his might, still struggling against the darkness.  
  
The shadow leaned down and licked along the center of Sora's chest, before crawling over him and kissing his mouth hard. Sora went to bite the dark Riku, but another strip of shadow held his jaw tight as the creature took anything it wanted from him.  
  
"Wait. No. Maybe I shouldn't." Riku pulled back slightly, but the shadow looked up at him and whimpered.  
  
"Listen, if it helps your conscious any, either I am the real Sora and I want this." The dark being grinned with it's black smile up at Riku. "Or I'm a complete fake who wants it anyway, either way, you're not doing anything wrong."  
  
Riku sat with his head down and pondered this for a few minutes. Then he looked down at the shadow Sora. He moaned and let his legs fall wide open, and Riku lost every last thread of control. He places his hands on the sides of the dark Sora's head and looked deep into it's golden eyes.  
  
"Are you sure you're ready?"  
  
"For you.always." The shadow leaned up and took Riku's mouth in his, as the boy positioned himself and pushed himself slowly into the body beneath him. The shadow let its mouth hang open and groaned and sighed unashamedly.  
  
Sora screamed till his throat and lungs were hoarse as the shadow thrust violently into him.  
  
"What's the matter little one, not how you dreamt about it?" The shadow beast teased the boy who cried and bled under him.  
  
Sora wouldn't let the tears spill out as he was ripped apart by the shadows constant movements.  
  
Riku panted and let his eyes fall shut as the thrust harder and faster into the shadow. The dark Sora also let his eyes close and head fall back, into pure bliss.  
  
"STOP IT!" Sora screamed up at the shadows unfeeling yellow eyes. The obsidian Riku slapped him hard across his face and continued to push harder into him.  
  
Riku pushed and felt himself cum into the shadow's body, and they both let out a mangled cry of pent up lust. Then everything flashed white for a moment.  
  
Riku continued panting as he looked down into the dark blue eyes of his friend Sora. Out of surprise, he went to pull himself out of his battered and bleeding best friend. As he did, his nails dug into Sora's shoulders. His eyes looked up at him in surprise and pain, pleading with him for it to not have been real.  
  
"Riku." Sora stopped as the bands holding him down thickened and began to cover his body.  
  
"No! Sora!" Riku's hands reached frantically for where Sora had been, but only found the dark floor where his friend had been sucked through without him.  
  
A soft voice laughed and echoed in Riku's head. 


	3. Shadows

'Anyone's thoughts when they're alone.' ~Ansem's thoughts/talking in Riku's head.~ Spoilers.I talk about some things involving the end of the game. Sorry this took me so long, exams at school, I haven't had much time to write. And the realm they're in is hard to give rules to, so I'm making them up as a I go along, my story, I don't care if it differs from the game.  
  
Sora saw a bright light, and Riku's face hovering above his. Then the darkness swelled around and over him, sucking him away as he called out to the one above him, no longer a shadow, but his best friend.  
  
"Sora!" Riku yelled back and reached for him, but Sora felt himself pushed through the dark floor and for a moment he couldn't see anything, and couldn't tell up from down.  
  
The Sora was abruptly spat out onto soft sand. Something hard was in his hand, and when Sora looked at it, it was a giant key.  
  
"What." Looking around, Sora saw that he was again on the paopu island, and the dark storm hovered above him. Raising the key to look at it better, Sora saw that the handle he held it by was more like a sword's than a keys. Then he remembered everything that had happened in the shadowy world. Reaching up to his cheek, Sora realized that it wasn't sore. It was as if he'd never been hit. Reaching towards his side, the bite on his ribs was gone as well. As he stood up, he felt a twinge on his shoulders. Lifting up his red jumpsuit, Sora saw that the nail imprints remained on his shoulders. 'But why?'  
  
'Keyblade. Keyblade.' Some voice whispered in Sora ear. 'Or was it in my head.' Sora felt something watching him, and spun around, wielding the key like a sword, praying that was what it was made for.  
  
A dark puddle on the ground moved slowly to the side, before two yellow spots appeared in the middle.  
  
"No." Sora whispered to himself as his hands began to shake, yellow eyes, like Riku's. He shook his head and took a quick step back as the darkness grew out of the ground. 'Please no, not again.' Taking a deep breath, Sora took a step forward, and two antennae popped out of the rising black head. 'Riku doesn't have antennae!' Then Sora recognized the small, bug like creatures as the ones from his dream. He had dreamed all of this, from Riku reaching out to him, to fighting these shadows. Taking a firm hold on his sword, Sora charged at the dark beings, slashing at them left and right, and to his surprise, they disappeared. He grinned as his confidence was restored and then took off towards the secret place, something drawing him towards it.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
"No Sora!" Riku tried to reach through the dark floor, hoping it would suck him through as it had his friend. But instead, it began to rise up beneath him and take form.  
  
"Sora?" The darkness formed itself into a shape, and yellow eyes opened up to look at Riku once more. He growled in frustration and disgust at looking into the yellow eyes of his lover shadow. Before the dark being could touch him, Riku heard a voice. A deep, smooth voice that seemed to echo around him, everywhere, and inside his head at the same time.  
  
"Hello?" Riku looked around for the source of the voice.  
  
"Hello." The shadow smiled up at him, then it winked. Riku shuddered and said, "Not you. That voice, where is it coming from." Standing up, he tried to perceive anything in the blackness of this world, but there was no one there except him and the shadow Sora. The voice was like a whisper, barely audible, and Riku couldn't make out any of the words.  
  
"So this is him." Finally the voice became louder and Riku could understand him.  
  
"Who are you? And where are you?" Footsteps appeared behind him, and Riku spun around, crouching back defensively. He didn't like this place and he didn't trust anyone who spoke from the shadows. Another figure was walking in the dark realm, just out of Riku's sight. The shadow on the floor stood up slowly, then bowed to the figure which was slowly approaching.  
  
"I am Ansem. And I am right here." Riku felt something tap on his head and he turned, ready for a fight. A man stood behind him, much taller than him. His orange eyes bored down at the boy, and he had an feeling of royalty about him by the way he stared down. His hair was long and white, and his entire outfit was colored in similar ways. Riku took a step back, not trusting this newcomer, and bumped into the shadow.  
  
"Watch it will ya." Riku trailed off and ignored the problem of what to call his shadow, as he turned to the man called Ansem.  
  
"Aww, come on Ku, you know my name is Sora." The shadow purred into Riku's ear and let his arms wrap gently around him.  
  
"You're not Sora." Riku's eyes never left Ansem as he growled at the shadow behind him.  
  
"Oh but I am." The shadow leaned against him and felt as warm and real as it had before, but Riku didn't want to push him away. Even after all that had happened, he felt like he could trust the shadow, at least more than this newcomer.  
  
"If you refuse to call him by his real name, call him Shadow." Ansem smiled and waved his hand gently to his side. Out of the darkness, a chair rose up and Ansem took a seat on it.  
  
"Have a seat you two. Shadow and I will explain everything." Riku jumped as a chair rose beneath him and looked at it suspiciously for a few minutes. Shadow grabbed his and turned it backwards, sitting down on it lazily, with his head on his arms. With a deep breath and another glance at his strange companions, the silver haired boy sat down in the chair.  
  
The man across from Riku was elegant and stately. He suspected the man must be of some high society, judging by the way he was dressed in his cape and boots, and by the way he acted. The trio sat in silence, and Riku felt that they were waiting on him. He felt someone nudge his leg and looked over to Shadow.  
  
"Ask lord Ansem a question." He whispered to him and winked.  
  
"Lord?" Not exactly what Riku had planned to say, but it came out just the same.  
  
"I am master in this realm. And, I was a king in my own world. Shadow is a loyal follower, he calls me lord out of habit."  
  
"So wait, you two know each other?" Riku looked between the two, unsure of why there would be a shadow of Sora in this realm to begin with.  
  
"Shadow doesn't always look as he does now. His form changes depending on what's happening at the time."  
  
"So what made him pretend to be Sora?"  
  
"I'm not pretending, I am Sora." The shadow grinned, and Riku could see why he would say that. The two were identical in mannerisms, voice, and looks. Give this one colors and there would be no difference.  
  
"He's right Riku. Technically, he is at least part of the Sora you know."  
  
"Whoa whoa, hold on a sec, what do you mean by part?"  
  
The man shook his head and his long white hair swung with it. He made a sighing sound before looking back at his two young charges.  
  
"To understand that, I shall have to explain the world we are in right now."  
  
"Fine!" Riku yelled, his patience was wearing thin with being left out of the loop. He wanted to know everything, and he wanted to know now.  
  
"Temper. Temper." Shadow wiggled his finger condescendingly at Riku. Then he just laughed and turned back to focus his attention on Ansem, who had cleared his throat and caught their attention.  
  
"This place we are in, is a realm of darkness. It has no real name. No one who is in here has ever been able to get out, so a name would be pointless."  
  
Riku just blinked.  
  
"This is a world of darkness. Everyone has darkness in their hearts, and here the darkness controls all. All hearts are created in a world which lies within this darkness called Kingdom Hearts. If someone's heart is taken from their body, the darkness can take a hold of it, or, if they give in to the darkness and accept it. Without a heart, the body lets the darkness consume them and they are transformed into what I called Heartless. By controlling the darkness, I could reach people's hearts and control them as well by turning them to Heartless."  
  
"Why would you want to do that." Riku was beginning to like Ansem less and less as time went on, and this world seemed confusing to him.  
  
"In order to let the darkness take every person in all the worlds it can reach. When people let the darkness enter their hearts, they are accepting their true nature. The Heartless obey me since I control the darkness that took them, and I use them to take more hearts. I would myself, but by coming to this realm I lost my body as well. " Ansem smiled.  
  
~That's where you come in.~ Riku jumped when he heard Ansem's voice inside of his head, and felt his presence in his mind. He jumped from his chair and leapt at Ansem. The man sat calmly as Riku grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him barely off of his chair.  
  
"Get out of my head." Shadow stood up, worried for his master at the growl of his new friend.  
  
"I'm not in your head Riku." Ansem's attitude was a perfect mask of calm. He reached out with his white glove and pressed his hand to Riku's chest. ~I'm right here.~  
  
Riku cried out as he felt a burning sensation in his chest. Shadow jumped to his side, and kept him from falling in his pain. When Riku's aqua eyes reopened, Ansem was gone. And Riku's body was standing on it's own.  
  
'What's going on?'  
  
~You haven't caught on yet, have you?~ Riku's jaw fell open as he realized that his internal monologue had become a dialogue.  
  
'Are you inside me?'  
  
~Of course. I am darkness itself. And when you gave into your dark instincts with my Shadow, I became a part of your heart. My original body is a useless Heartless somewhere, but my spirit thrives here in the darkness, and now I can leave this place inside of your heart.~  
  
"But, if I'm here, and I." Riku looked at Shadow, who was still holding onto him, concern flickering in his golden eyes, ".gave into the darkness, then I'm the same as you. Here forever, and my body is now a, what did you call them?"  
  
"Heartless." Ansem returned in front of Riku, feeling that the boy would be less confused and apprehensive if he could get used to the one he know shared a body with. He looked to the floor, and it rippled to life. A creature began to rise out of it, with a shiny pointy hat and wicked claws on its fingers. A symbol was on its chest that had a red heart with black lines crossing through it.  
  
"This is a Heartless. Who knows what it was before, a person, an animal, it doesn't really matter though. This is what any normal body becomes when the darkness replaces where its heart originally was." Seeing that its time had passed, the soldier walked away, its armor clanking as it fading into the shadows of the realm.  
  
"Fine, but why am I not a Heartless. I gave in." Shadow finally let go and sat down on the floor between Ansem and Riku's chair, silently watching the two discuss the very essence of his world and his existence.  
  
"I brought you and your friend here because I needed one of your bodies, it didn't matter which."  
  
"Why us? What's so special about me and Sora?"  
  
"You are both Keyblade masters. Only those who can wield a keyblade, and therefore open and close keyholes, can move freely from the shadow realm to the real one. Your heart will also not be taken as easily as I thought, again because of the keyblade."  
  
Riku just stared into the orange eyes of this man. His mind was swimming and he had no clue what most of it meant. 'Better to start out small.' Riku opened his mouth and -  
  
"A keyblade." Ansem interrupted, knowing the question already, " is a weapon of immense power. It will only allow itself to be used by certain people. It is meant to lock and unlock two things that give the keyblade its true power. It can unlock keyholes between worlds and realms, as well as unlock people's hearts."  
  
"So you're saying me and Sora were chosen to get this sword or whatever it is?"  
  
"Yes. Only a few very unique people are able to touch and use the keyblade. Both you and Sora were two of those people. That is why I sent the darkness to bring you here. Then, whoever of you accepted the darkness, would unknowingly be letting me take control of their body."  
  
Riku's hand balled up into a fist and began to shake at his side. He hung his head and repressed a snarl from his throat.  
  
"So.everything with Sora.you did that to us just so you could take over one of our bodies?"  
  
Shadow laid a hand on Riku's back and tried to sooth his anger. Ansem finally stood and turned to leave. Calling over his shoulder, he yelled, "Shadow, your brother's are tempted to take Riku's heart, you're in charge of protecting him, and answer any more questions he has." The man faded into the shadows and was gone to do whatever he had set off to.  
  
"What happened to him?" Riku said softly, feeling drained with all this information. Shadow just cocked his head to the side.  
  
"Who?" After a moment of silence, Shadow's yellow eyes widened.  
  
"Oh, you mean what happened to the real Sora?" Riku nodded and sat back down in his chair, leaning back, his eyes half closed in thought. Shadow sighed but decided to help the boy out.  
  
"Listen, Ansem is inside your heart now. You should be able to use some of his powers, and one of the powers he has is manipulation of the darkness." Finally the aqua eyes focused again and began to pay attention to Shadow. The being smiled at him and his yellow eyes seemed a bit happier now.  
  
Shadow bent down and pressed his hand to the floor, which became reflective and looked like it was made of glass. Putting his hand through it, he pulled the floor up into a wall. Riku just looked on with his jaw hanging open as the darkness formed itself according to Shadow's movements.  
  
"Don't look so surprised. You'll be able to do this too once you learn. It's not hard anyhow." Slowly, the blackness of the wall faded, and was replaced with a purple swirling sky and a pale sandy island. The world was swirling around this one little island, and debris was stuck in odd places along the sand. An enormous creature stood there, black tentacles across it's face, and a gaping heart shaped hole in it.  
  
"What is that thing?" Riku leaned forward to look at the makeshift television closer.  
  
"A Darkside. Dumb creatures. But they're the biggest Heartless around. Surprisingly weak for their size though." Shadow just smirked and looked condescendingly at the image.  
  
"This image looks so familiar, what is it?" Riku looked up as the Shadow patted his head. He didn't really mind though, since Shadow really was like Sora in so many ways.  
  
"That's your Destiny Island. Or what's left of it. The darkness is sucking it up, and soon it will be gone."  
  
"Take this!" A voice broke through and caused both of the audience members to look at the image again. A small figure in red ran at the Darkside and slashed at it with a key shaped sword.  
  
"Sora." Riku looked shocked and transfixed as his best friend took on this enormous enemy all alone.  
  
"With this, you can always see what Sora is doing."  
  
"Thank you." Riku whispered under his breath as he focused intently on Sora's image. Shadow smiled and curled up against Riku's legs, and the two stayed that way watching the battle rage on. 


	4. Reunion

Sora leapt up and struck the giant black beast Cerberus on the head one last time. It swayed a few more times back and forth before falling down, having finally been beaten. Sora and his new friends, a duck and a dog, began jumping around, excited after beating the creature.  
  
"Told you he would win." Riku smirked down at Shadow. The two of them were sitting on a black couch that they had created in their world. Riku was laying down, his head propped up on one hand and leaning on his elbow. Shadow was laying with his back curled up to him, and Riku's free arm was laying lazily over Shadow's waist.  
  
"I said he'd never have a chance against Cerberus. I didn't count his two new buddies in there. They helped him out, he could never have beaten Cerberus on his own." Shadow looked up mischievously into Riku's aqua eyes, which were watching Sora talk to the man named Cloud.  
  
"Woo-hoo." Shadow rolled over and waved a hand in front of Riku's face, trying to break the boy out of the stupor he fell into while watching Sora. Riku blinked and looked down at Shadow. Shadow grinned happily at having attention and hugged Riku, pressing his face against Riku's chest, cuddling against the warm body.  
  
Riku stretched his hand out and concentrated on the black wall where his old best friend was boarding a ship for some new world. The blackness obeyed his command and faded into the floor, leaving the world again barren with the exception of the two boys and their couch.  
  
"You've gotten really good at that Riku." Shadow sat up and felt proud of himself. It was his job to teach Riku to use the darkness, and the boy was coming along nicely. With Ansem inside him, Riku could see things that any normal person wouldn't be able to. He could sense when the heartless were hiding somewhere, in a floor or a wall, keeping themselves hidden from anyone else.  
  
"It's not very hard with Ansem's power." Riku stood up and cracked his back before looking around bored. "I need something to do. This is getting boring."  
  
"Well, where's Ansem? He should be back from communicating with that scary lady with the horns by now."  
  
"Yeah." Riku felt for where the one who shared his mind had gone. Sharing a body had given the two a kind of connection, they could sense each other, and sometimes even know each others thoughts. Riku could feel Ansem closer than he expected, somewhere out in the darkness.  
  
Shadow glanced up with his yellow eyes, he could sense his master coming as well. The soft steps of his boots confirmed what the two boys already knew and out of the wispy darkness a man appeared. Smiling to his young charges, Ansem looked unusually pleased with himself.  
  
"What are you so happy about?" Riku said bluntly. This mad had taken over his body and trapped him in this endless world of black, so he didn't have the highest opinion of him as of now.  
  
"I sent another vision to Maleficent. She is coming along very nicely. She is a fool, and now I control her."  
  
"That was fast." Shadow piped up.  
  
"So what does this mean? Why is Maleficent so important?" Riku crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. Unlike the heartless that lived in the shadows, he didn't consider Ansem his lord and master. Shadow grimaced at his disrespect but remained silently at his side.  
  
"She is greedy for power. And with her controlling the heartless in that world, Sora and the others who are resisting will be none the wiser of my existence."  
  
"Until we open up the final keyhole, that is."  
  
"Of course Riku. Once the seven princesses are gathered by my little puppet Maleficent, we will open the keyhole and I will be able to return to my true body in the real world."  
  
"Good. I'm getting tired of having a roommate." Riku's sea green eyes bore into the dark orange ones of his captor. He would help him, but only because he had to get out of this world. To be with Sora and Kairi.  
  
"I know you wish to find your friends and be with them Riku. Therefore, I'm sending you to the real world."  
  
"Huh?" Shadow jumped up and looked between the two. He had finally found someone to be with, to keep him company in this world of vicious heartless, and he didn't want him to ever leave.  
  
"Riku, it is up to you to help Maleficent collect the seven princesses. Kairi is one of them, and you will be of great help when it comes to finding her. You can keep her safe, and through your eyes I can observe my plan playing out."  
  
"Okay, but how will I get there. I thought I couldn't leave here until the final keyhole was opened."  
  
"No, only my body is required to stay here in the darkness. You may leave just as the heartless do, through one of the already opened keyholes. As for you.." Ansem looked down into Shadow's glowing eyes. "You will accompany him, stay hidden, but you will have to be his guardian. The heartless are hungry, and Riku's heart calls to them because he is a keyblade master. Don't take your eyes off of him." The darkness swirled around Ansem and he sunk into the floor.  
  
"Guess he's off to find more powerful heartless, huh?"  
  
Shadow nodded and turned, walking in what seemed to Riku like a random direction.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?"  
  
"We're going to the real world. The keyhole to Traverse Town is over here somewhere." Shadow grinned back at him and motioned for him to follow. Riku ran up behind him and the two walked into the swirling darkness that was their world. A few heartless emerged around them, and Riku could sense that there were more around than normal. After walking for a while, Shadow pointed ahead. In front of them was a key shaped hole. Heartless were crawling into it, Shadows and Large Bodies. Shadow grabbed Riku's hand and tugged him toward it.  
  
"How exactly does this work again?" Riku sounded nervous and Shadow could understand why. When he had been brought to this world, he had been dragged down. He had no choice.  
  
"Don't worry. Just control the darkness like you've been doing. It's the same kind of thing." Before he even finished his sentence, Shadow let go of Riku's hand and stepped into the keyhole. It filled with the darkness, like water having ink poured into it, and Shadow slipped straight though. 'Right. Control the darkness. Sure. Easy as pie.'  
  
Calling up the powers he had gained from harboring Ansem's spirit, the keyhole filled with darkness again. Riku concentrated on Shadow and an image of Traverse Town. Taking a very deep breath, he extended his hand and felt it go through the soft black material of the keyhole. Sticking his foot through, then letting his body through slowly, Riku could suddenly see the stars above him.  
  
Shadow was no where to be seen. Riku sensed around for him, and could tell that he was in a nearby wall.  
  
"Staying hidden?"  
  
Shadow laughed and slid through the wall, but he was still slightly transparent.  
  
"Now I'm hidden. It takes a little more work, but this way only you and the other heartless can see me." He grinned proudly before a noise caught their attention.  
  
Someone was laughing, then there was a harsh battle cry. 'That sounded like..' Riku took off in the direction of the voice. Shadow looked hurt, but then slid into the ground and caught up with his friend quickly.  
  
"Take that!" Sora yelled as he lunged forward with his keyblade. A few hits against the hard armor of the Soldiers, and they disappeared. Goofy flung himself at a group of Shadows and squashed them with his shield. Donald was busy fending off a large body with thunder attacks. He too succumbed to the greater power of his enemies and disappeared.  
  
Riku stood in awe, watching his childhood sparring partner spin around and take out another bunch of Heartless behind him. 'He's gotten much better.' Jumping high above it, Sora slashed downward and finished off the last heartless. Smiling over to the rest of his party with that goofy grin on his face, Sora gave them a thumbs up.  
  
"You going to go say hi to him?" Shadow whispered in Riku's ear. For a second the boy didn't respond. His soft eyes just stared at the boy whom his world had revolved around for the first 15 years of his life. Then he nodded. Shadow sighed and slid down through the floor, closer to the keyblade master. Riku walked forward and Sora spun on his heel hearing the footsteps.  
  
The two were standing ten feet apart, but it was as if they were still in different worlds.  
  
"Hey Sora. Glad I found you." Riku tried to look calm and smirked at his best friend. Sora's dark blue eyes widened and his jaw hung open for a few seconds.  
  
"R-Riku?"  
  
"What's the matter Sora? You forget how to speak since I've been gone." Riku took a few steps closer and stretched out his hand, mussing Sora's hair. Suddenly the duck and dog leapt forward, brandishing a wand and shield at Riku. They stepped between the two boys, and Riku's smile fell to a frown.  
  
"Woah. Hold on guys. This is Riku. He's one of the friends I've been looking for." Turning to the silver haired boy Sora shrugged and motioned to the two next to him. "Sorry, this is Donald and Goofy."  
  
"You say you were looking for me?"  
  
"Yeah, for you and Kairi. I didn't even know if either of you were alive after Destiny Island disappeared."  
  
~He says he was looking for you. How kind.~  
  
'What are you talking about Ansem.' Riku's eyes fell on the blade that Sora was holding even as he talked with Ansem.  
  
~You've been watching him. All he cares about is destroying the heartless and closing keyholes. And now he's got these new friends...~ Riku thought about what he had said and realized that Sora had been helping everyone in these worlds, as if he didn't have something better to do.  
  
"You say you were looking for us. Seems to me that all you did was find two new friends to replace us."  
  
Sora balked at this and shook his head fiercely. "That's not it Riku. They were helping me to look for you two." Riku's eyes flicked to Sora's shadow as it rose up out of the ground. Shadow took a step towards his mirror image and began to inspect the sword he was holding. Stretching out a transparent hand, Shadow ran his fingers along the blade.  
  
With a hiss of pain, Shadow's gold eyes flew open and he jumped back from the keyblade. He held up his black hand to see that it was smoking, as if he had been burned. Riku followed all of this out of the corner of his eye, keeping eye contact with the real Sora.  
  
"That's a nice sword Sora. Mind if I see it?" Riku extended his gloved hand and waited to see how Sora would react. He seemed unsure at first, remembering that Leon hadn't been able to hold the keyblade. 'It can't hurt to let him hold it, it will just return to me like it did then.' Sora held out the blade and smiled, trying to restore a sense of friendship between them.  
  
Riku reached out and grasped the hilt of the keyblade. Picking it up from Sora's hands, it felt right in his grasp. ~You see Riku. You are the true keyblade master.~ Sora's eyes widened as the sword didn't return to him. Riku made a few slashes with it, testing out it's weight and feel.  
  
"This is a nice sword Sora. Better keep it safe, so you don't lose it." Riku tossed the sword to Sora who caught it at the last second. Riku sensed someone nearby, someone with a lot of power. Shadow picked his head up as well, motioning to Riku that they should go. Sora took his eyes off of Riku for a second to look down at the keyblade. 'But...I'm the keyblade master, I should be the only one who can touch it..' Sora looked up, but Riku had disappeared. His brown hair flew around his face as he looked from side to side for his missing friend.  
  
"Where.." Sora let his sentence hang in the air as he sighed heavily and turned to Donald and Goofy to find out where they should go next.  
  
Shadow leaned against a nearby wall, looking down at the three confused travelers. A black pool of darkness formed next to him, and Riku stepped out of it, looking deep in thought.  
  
"So, you really are the keyblade master." Riku remained silent and the darkness disappeared, allowing him to lean against the wall as well.  
  
"I don't understand. He claims that all he was doing was trying to find me and Kairi. So why did he volunteer to start closing up keyholes."  
  
Shadow put a hand on Riku's shoulder, trying to comfort him.  
  
"Maybe..maybe he doesn't feel the same way about you as you do for him Riku."  
  
~Of course he doesn't feel the same way about you anymore Riku. You might have had a chance with him, but think of what you did to him. What Shadow tricked you into doing.~  
  
Riku pulled away from the Shadow's hand and took a few steps back. His aqua eyes were clouded with anger as he glared at his dark companion.  
  
"If his feelings for me did change, it's your fault!" Shadow couldn't believe what he was hearing, especially not from Riku.  
  
"You made me do what I did to him. It's your fault." Snarling one more time, Riku turned away angrily and walked through the streets of Traverse Town, leaving Shadow were he stood in shock.  
  
"Poor boy." A smooth and dangerous voice said from behind Riku. He turned slowly around, unsure of what he would see. A woman stood behind him, a woman wearing a long black dress. On her head were two horns, and she held in her hand a long staff with a glowing jewel on top.  
  
~Ah. My dear Maleficent.~  
  
'So this is the witch. She's tall.'  
  
"Your friend has abandoned you." Maleficent smiled comfortingly at the boy. Riku could sense a dark power around her, different than that of the heartless.  
  
"Why not come with me boy, I can help you find what you're looking for." Riku's eyes widened.  
  
'Did you tell her about me when you..communicated or whatever you call it with her?'  
  
~No. I can tell that she has some plan for you in mind. Go along with it. Let her think that she is manipulating you. It will then be even easier for us to make our plans reality.~  
  
'Fine. But I won't be controlled like a little puppet by both of you.'  
  
~Of course not Riku.~ The disarmingly soft voice in his head responded. Riku sighed heavily before taking a step toward the imposing woman.  
  
"Fine. I'll go with you. Anything to find Kairi." Riku found that pretending he didn't know anything was easier than he would have expected. He could feel another presence, and his conscience returned with a vengeance.  
  
Shadow stepped out from a wall and walked hesitantly towards Riku and Maleficent. Her cold eyes found him as soon as he stepped from the wall and she smiled to him, a smile with no warmth in it.  
  
"And where did you come from. I've never seen a heartless like you before."  
  
"He isn't a heartless." Riku interrupted and shot an apologetic smile to his friend. Shadow immediately grinned and now felt safe to stand closer to Riku.  
  
"Ah. I see. Well then, my name is Maleficent."  
  
"Mine is Riku. And this is Shadow."  
  
Maleficent smiled icily again and motioned the two to follow her. When her back was turned, Riku reached over and hung his arm around Shadow, giving him a kind of sideways hug. Shadow smiled at him and wrapped his arm around Riku's waist. Then the two released each other and ran to catch up with the flowing strides of the witch.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
from here on in, I will only be writing chapters about times when Riku shows up. I'm sure no one wants to read about the game, if you've already played it. I know the lines aren't the same, and the timings may be off, but I've forgotten a lot of the specifics. I'm trying my best though. ^_^ review please! 


	5. Unexpected

Riku sat in the shadows with his arms crossed. Shadow stood closely by, watching the battle ahead. The darkness surrounded them and kept them hidden from the brunette who ran by.  
  
"Geez. You'd think taking Jafar down would be the only thing he cared about." Shadow sneered at his mirror image as he ran by, chasing the vizier around the circular room.  
  
"Well, he does at least keep asking about me and Kairi." Riku whispered.  
  
"Yeah. Until he finds out about another keyhole he can go unlock."  
  
Riku sighed heavily and hung his head. He had been searching with Maleficent for Kairi, and been watching Sora in his adventures. It was true that Sora would ask about them, but he also took everyone else's problems more seriously.  
  
~Don't let the boy cloud your mind Riku. Once you find Kairi and the other princesses, then I will regain my body and you will have yours. The three of you can go anywhere you'd like.~  
  
Riku's concentration was broken as he heard a horribly pained scream. Sora had defeated Jafar it seemed.  
  
"Genie! I wish to be an all powerful genie!"  
  
The humorous blue blob in the air pointed to Jafar and looked away as a spark of pink and purple magic shot into the vizier. Jafar's body jolted with the energy running throughout his body.  
  
Suddenly, he crashed through the floor of the room and a whole appeared. Sora and the others ran forward, peering down into the hole. There was lava pouring in from everywhere, and a platform stood in the middle of the ocean of magma. Before plunging down, Sora began to run towards the keyhole and where Riku and Shadow were hiding.  
  
'Can he see us?'  
  
~No, he must be coming for the princess. If he takes Jasmine away, we shall never be able to open the final keyhole.~  
  
Riku took the warning and forced the darkness through the ground until it was under the princess. Without the approaching hero's noticing, the darkness surrounded the princess.  
  
"Jasmine!" Aladdin ran up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. But she wouldn't wake up.  
  
"Don't worry Aladdin. I'm sure she's just been knocked out, we have to defeat Jafar before he comes back for her."  
  
Shadow took a few steps forward, walking behind the real Sora as he ran toward the gaping hole in the room. Turning to Riku he saluted and slid straight through the floor. Riku didn't know why Shadow enjoyed following Sora around and watching him as much as he did, but he could do whatever he wanted. 'I have a job to take care of.'  
  
Riku stepped from the darkness and it slipped away from the princess. Jasmine opened her eyes and immediately turned to where there was the sound of fighting.  
  
"Aladdin?" Jasmine stood up and took a few steps down from the inlet of the wall where she had been dropped by Jafar. Peering into the hole, the red light from the lava and fireballs below shone into her eyes and she held up her hand to protect her eyes. Then she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see who it was.  
  
Riku's dragonblade came down on the back of the princesses neck and she fell unconscious to the floor. Picking up the girls light body, Riku let himself be pulled through the puddle of darkness growing at his feet.  
  
When his eyes opened again, he was in a dark castle. The walls were overgrown and had large columns. At the end of the short corridor was a circular room. A table was set up in the center, and numerous shadows stood nearby. Riku recognized a few of them, but knew little about them. He shifted the burden on his shoulder and walked past the figures who turned to look at him.  
  
After a few trips up and down lifts, Riku arrived at the keyhole chamber. On the walls were six blue glass containers. The seventh lay farther in the chamber, reserved for the final princess, facing the enormous keyhole.  
  
Five beautiful girls were silently sleeping inside their coffin like boxes. Approaching the empty one, Riku pulled it open with the darkness that pervaded the entire castle. He stood up the Arabian princess next to the young blond girl who had been brought a short while before.  
  
"So Ku, who do you think is the prettiest in the bunch?" Shadow slipped his arms around Riku from behind and rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder.  
  
"You really shouldn't sneak up on me you know." Riku tossed back playfully as he walked away from the light embrace.  
  
"Normally I couldn't." Shadow quickly caught up to Riku and walked with him to the lifts.  
  
"I would have been able to tell you were there from a mile away. But this place," Riku nodded to the castle passing by them as the platform rose to the dark corridor he had entered, "This whole place reeks of darkness from that keyhole. Even with Ansem's powers I can't sense you out specifically."  
  
~I'm sure if you tried hard enough you could. Now, Maleficent wishes to speak to you, she'll send a messenger soon if you don't go to her.~  
  
Riku walked through the false wall and the horned witch turned to greet him with her usual smile and hard eyes.  
  
"Good job Riku. You managed to capture the sixth princess of heart."  
  
"You should never have left the job in that fool Jafar's hands. He almost messed the plan up completely."  
  
"And then the keyblade master wailed on him." Shadow smirked at the frown on Maleficent's face.  
  
"Yes. He allowed the darkness to take over him. His need for power did him in."  
  
~She writes her own eulogy.~  
  
"Yeah, well, just one more princess to go." Riku pushed the conversion in the direction he wanted and stepped closer to the tall woman.  
  
"Ah yes. You kept your promise, and I will keep mine." Waving her long fingernails over the table, a light shone and a small image of Kairi appeared.  
  
~'Kairi'~  
  
"You look surprised Riku."  
  
"What's the catch," Riku looked from the image of his friend to the old witch, "Why are you doing this for me?"  
  
"I think of you as a son Riku. You kept your end of the bargain, and I will keep mine." Taking just one slow step forward, Maleficent reached out and cupped the side of Riku's face in her cold hand. Riku slapped it away and took a step back.  
  
Shadow stepped between the two, holding a dark version of the keyblade in his hand, in a threatening way.  
  
"Hahaha. What is this Riku? You don't trust me so you send out your faithful little pet?" Shadow snarled and bent down, ready to take a swing at the woman, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Riku shook his head back and forth.  
  
"That's what I thought. Now, Captain Hook will be taking you to the girl. Bring her back here once you obtain her."  
  
Riku took Shadow's hand and turned toward the strangely dressed sea captain. He smirked down at the two.  
  
"You should know now, this won't be a pleasure cruise. If you're on me vessel, you're going to work."  
  
"Sure, whatever." Riku muttered and began to follow the man to what was inevitably his ship.  
  
"And Riku." Maleficent's cold voice broke through the air and commanded a sense of respect. Riku stopped, but would not turn to her.  
  
"Stay away from the keyblade master."  
  
Shadow watched as Riku seethed, but didn't let his temper escape.  
  
~Maleficent is an idiot. She doesn't realize that she is being used. Soon Riku, you will be able to teach her a lesson.~  
  
'It better be soon. I'm getting tired of that old bitch and I will make her pay for everything she's been sending at Sora.'  
  
~But who will make Sora pay for the pain he is inflicting on the heartless, just poor people who have lost their hearts.~  
  
'They don't deserve pity.' Riku could practically feel Ansem smirking.  
  
~As you wish.~  
  
Shadow poked Riku's arm to stir him from his internal conversation. Then he just laughed and pulled the silver haired boy onto the enormous pirate ship. Riku's jaw hung open as they climbed aboard the comfortable looking vessel.  
  
"Ar. You two stay out of our way. Ya may go anywar below deck. Stay there until we reach where we're heading."  
  
Riku turned and walked through one of the doors leading to a set of cabins. Had he any respect at all for the captain, he probably would have acknowledged the command.  
  
"You're going to get us kicked off this boat ya know?" Shadow smirked and jumped into one of the hammocks, swinging back and forth. Riku climbed into the hammock below his and leaned his head back on his arms. His green eyes slowly closed as he tried to rest, he'd been doing everyone's errands lately, and using the darkness was starting to strain his body.  
  
Soft lips pressed against Riku's and he lazily lifted his eyelids. Shadow was half way phased through the hammock above his and was holding onto it to keep from falling down.  
  
"Ku..why don't we have some fun?" The boy fluttered his dark eyelashes over his golden eyes suggestively.  
  
Riku just sighed and smiled up at the figure hanging above him.  
  
"I'm too tired right now. Maybe later." Shadow pouted at this and let go of the hammock.  
  
"Oof!" Shadow landed right on Riku's stomach, causing him to make a very interesting noise. The dark boy straddled Riku and leaned down, pressing his lips more urgently to Riku's. After a moment of hesitance, Riku ran his gloved hand through Shadow's spiky dark hair and opened his mouth into the kiss.  
  
Shadow purred happily and ran his tongue along Riku's, savoring the texture and taste. Riku's hands slid down to Shadow's shoulder and pushed him away.  
  
"What's wrong Ku?"  
  
"Something's coming."  
  
Shadow slid off Riku's stomach and stretched out his hand. The shadow keyblade formed in his hand again, not as powerful as a real keyblade, but very effective.  
  
Riku concentrated on what was left of his control over the darkness and put his hands together. The darkness flowed through him and a hilt appeared in his hands. The dark blue and red dragon blade grew out from the hilt and curved wickedly. Riku took a fighting stance and stood with his back to Shadow. They had had their fair share of heartless attacks, they kept on coming for Riku's heart, especially when they sensed that he was weak.  
  
From the floor two points rose up and Riku and Shadow took a step away from them. The points were blue and jagged, and were soon joined be a set of antennae. The creatures rose up out of the ground, two of them. Each carried an enormous dark sword, and had a hole in the shape of a heart in their chest.  
  
"Invisibles." Shadow mumbled and took a deep breath. "They're tough heartless. Some of the toughest. Take them out fast before they cast their attacks." Shadow ran forward and jumped over the head of the nearest Invisible, slashing downward with his keyblade. But the Invisible hovered up to meet him on it's tiny wings and blocked his attack with its own powerful blade.  
  
Riku turned from watching his friend as the other heartless lunged at him. Riku leapt away from the jagged sword then braced himself and ran back at him. His dragonblade cut through the air before hitting one of the Invisible's legs. It looked down silently at the damage down to it before floating backwards and raising it's sword high.  
  
"YAH!" Shadow swung his keyblade heavily and it cut through the weakened Invisible. It was now in half. Panting slightly, Shadow turned to see Riku and his opponent. The Invisible raised it's sword high and plunged it into the ground.  
  
"NO!" Shadow ran forward but the purple orbs were already circling around Riku. The silver haired boy looked around him, realizing that this must be the attack Shadow was talking about. Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He cried out and fell to his knees, dropping the dragonblade. Purple orbs spun around him, electrocuting him with black lightning.  
  
Riku opened one of his eyes and squinted around, trying to find where the heartless had gone, but he couldn't see anything but the sword which was still imbedded in the ground.  
  
"Riku!" Shadow reached out to help Riku up but one of the orbs turned on him and he was flung back across the room. His back hit the wall with a thud and he slumped onto the floor. Shaking his dark spikes back and forth, Shadow's eyes focused again and he saw Riku shuddering in pain. He stood up and summoned the shadow keyblade to him and took off towards the Invisible's sword.  
  
Riku tried to use the darkness to escape from the attack, but his whole body was being attacked, as if the Invisible's attack was happening inside his body. Shadow swung the keyblade and knocked the blue sword out of the ground. Suddenly the pain was gone and Riku looked up to see the Invisible reappearing. It picked up it's fallen blade and rushed towards Shadow. Sounds of metal clashing against metal filled the room as the two shadow creatures dueled. Finally Riku's trembling knees allowed him to stand up and he forced the darkness around him into the shape of the dragonblade.  
  
Shadow held up his keyblade, trying to force back the larger heartless and it's jagged sword. Then the pressure stopped and the Invisible stumbled backwards, it's head sliced straight through. Riku stood behind him, pulling the dragoblade from where it had gotten stuck in the Invisible's head.  
  
"You said you wanted to have fun, huh Shadow?"  
  
"Oh yeah. That was a blast." Shadow winked at Riku before helping him walk back to the hammock, since the silver haired boy was still weak from the incredible attack.  
  
"What was that attack?"  
  
"Invisibles know strong magic, that was their strongest attack. Their sword is used as a base, and they are able to use the magic from the sword to enter the body of an enemy."  
  
"It was inside me?" Holding his aching ribs, Riku's looked wide eyed at Shadow for an explanation.  
  
"Yeah. Those orbs constrain the body of the enemy while the Invisible enters it and uses the darkness in that person to attack themselves. Seeing as you have a lot of darkness in you now that you have Ansem's powers, it did a lot of damage."  
  
Riku sat there, staring quietly at the floor. 'So I have you to thank for this.' Riku blinked a few times and tried again. 'Ansem? Where are you?' But still no response.  
  
"I can't seem to talk to Ansem."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. I can still feel his presence in my mind, but it's..." Riku tried again, harder to contact the being within him.  
  
"Maybe he's too busy doing something to be able to communicate." Shadow suggested helpfully. "Don't worry Ku. I'm sure he'll be back. Why don't you get some rest now, you look terrible."  
  
Riku gave a small smile at seeing Shadow's wide grin and let himself relax into the hammock. Shadow rolled onto his side and curled up against Riku. He let his arm hang over the dark boy's shoulders and drifted into a light sleep, rocked by the movement of the ship. 


	6. Turning Tides

This chapter got kinda big, and took me forever to write. I am really really sorry for the delay, but I got a part in my school play, so rehearsal plus school are taking up way too much of my time. Updates are gonna be few until summer, but they'll probably be big like this one. If this chapter doesn't flow well, I'm really sorry, but I wrote it over the span of about 2 or 3 weeks. :::bows::: sorry readers, I'll try and be a better writer soon.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Riku stood with his forehead leaning against the window of the cabin on Hook's ship. His breath was fogging up the glass until he could no longer see the stars and planets that were passing by. He sensed the approach of his lover behind him, and didn't start when his soft hands slid around his waist.  
  
"What's wrong Ku?"  
  
The aqua eyes peered out into the distance before returning to the ground.  
  
Shadow sighed and leaned against the taller boy, tightening his hug on him from behind. He could feel Riku's back swell up with each breath as his own dark chest moved.  
  
~Don't look so gloomy my boy.~  
  
Shadow stumbled back as Riku abruptly stood up straight, his eyes becoming hard and focused.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Ansem is back."  
  
'Where have you been?'  
  
~I had some, business, to attend to.~  
  
'What kind of business?'  
  
Shadow's bright yellow eyes blinked as he watched Riku concentrate. The dark creature let out a 'hmph' before sitting down on the hammock with his legs crossed and watching the beautiful boy in front of him.  
  
Riku pressed his mind against the intruding force of Ansem's spirit. Suddenly he felt and heard and saw memories from Ansem's mind. The other being in his mind retreated and let out an angry snarl.  
  
~What do you think you're doing.~  
  
'I want to know what you've really been doing. Now, tell me where Kairi is.'  
  
~How did you know.~ Even with his mind intruded on, Ansem remained calm and in control.  
  
'I saw her. Now tell me, where is she?'  
  
~I don't think you want me to...~  
  
Shadow leaned forward, trying to discern what was happening in Riku's mind as the boy's fists clenched angrily.  
  
'What have you done to Kairi!?!'  
  
~I have done nothing. Come to the shadow world and I'll show you.~  
  
"Come on Shadow. We're going." The obsidian form of a portal spread out from Riku's legs and Shadow stepped forward into it, slowly falling through the floor. Riku still wasn't used to the feeling, it was like voluntarily throwing yourself into a quicksand pit.  
  
Riku's heavy blue boots touched onto the solid floor of the shadow world and he could feel the tug of the keyhole behind him. Before Shadow even landed Riku had started running through the darkness. Sensing as far as he could, he felt Ansem's powerful presence ahead.  
  
"Where is she Ansem?!" Riku skidded to a stop as the man with the long white hair turned to face him. He smiled as usual, his over confident smirk.  
  
Ansem pointed with one long gloved finger to the floor and the darkness rose up into a globe. It flickered for a second, and Ansem's orange eyes narrowed. Finally the black orb showed what Ansem had seen. Kairi lay on the ground, motionless, her eyes closed and her face emotionless.  
  
"No..." Riku placed his black gloved hand on the globe and the image of his friend.  
  
"Is she dead?" Shadow sounded genuinely concerned, although his eyes were glued to Riku, and not the image of a girl.  
  
"No, but she has no heart. I have been communicating with Maleficent, and she is going to bring Kairi to you." Ansem smiled evilly and walked up behind Riku to place a falsely comforting hand on his shoulder.  
  
"So that you can kill her."  
  
"What?!?"  
  
"You said yourself," Ansem walked slowly around Riku, letting his hand trail on the boy's shoulder. "That heartless deserve no mercy, or did I mishear you." Ansem slid his arms around the boys shoulder and over his chest. He put his lips next to the wary boy's ears and let his hand slide down to lay over the boy's heart.  
  
"Perhaps I could let you join her. Then we wouldn't need her to complete the keyhole, I could just....borrow...your body."  
  
Riku winced as he felt a burning on his left chest. Ansem's fingers slowly pressed against the boy's yellow shirt, and began to sink through till they reached skin. Then they dug even deeper. Tears began to form in Riku's eyes from the pain and he bit his lip to keep from screaming out loud.  
  
"Calm down Riku. You'll be with the girl soon enough." Ansem pushed farther toward the boy's heart until he heard a dangerous snarl nearby. His calm orange eyes glared up at Shadow, who was standing with his dark keyblade at hand.  
  
"Leave Ku alone, or else."  
  
"Or else what, boy?" Ansem's hand stopped digging into Riku's flesh, but he still held the boy in his tight embrace.  
  
A sword pressed against Ansem's back, another against his throat, and Shadow began to slowly walk forward.  
  
"Or else we'll destroy you here, and you'll have no need for Riku's body anymore." Shadow smiled and reached to his side. There was a black rope coiled up and hung on the boy's black belt. Ansem just raised an eyebrow as Shadow pulled on the rope hard. Something far away let out a growl before the darkness revealed an enormous heartless. It's dark horn was sparkling with energy, and the black rope was secured around it's neck. The purple Behemoth took a step forward, and everyone felt the shudder of the ground beneath them.  
  
"This big guy's under my control for now. So I would let go of him before I decide to tell this guy to attack." Shadow stood with confidence as his copies also grinned and pressed their blades against Ansem's skin. The white haired noblemen looked unhappy, but eventually withdrew his hand from Riku's chest and disappeared into the darkness.  
  
Shadow ran forward, his copies fading away and the behemoth returning to it's home in the darkness. He caught Riku as the boy fell to his knees, clutching at the invisible wound in his chest. Riku coughed and his silver hair fell in front of his face as he threw his head forward. Shadow gently moved his hair aside and took the frightened boy's face in his hands.  
  
"Come on Riku. Let's get out of here. We can't trust Ansem here."  
  
Riku nodded and Shadow helped him gain his balance again before the two ran for the keyhole. They slipped through and found themselves on the clocktower. Shadow melted through the floor, taking Riku with him to the pirate ship.  
  
As they arrived in their cabin, Shadow could no longer hold up both himself and Riku and fell with the other boy to the floor. .  
  
"What's wrong?" Riku asked in a hollow voice.  
  
"Just using up a lot of energy lately. Going here and there using the portals, and keeping control over a Behemoth takes a lot outta ya."  
  
Riku stared at the floor, but his hand hovered over his heart. "Thank you." He practically whispered.  
  
"Don't worry. We'll get Kairi back. And we'll fix her too."  
  
"How? Is there any way to turn someone back once they've become a heartless?"  
  
"I don't know for sure. But if there is a way, we'll find it Ku. I swear." Shadow slid his hand over Riku's and took a firm hold over it, his comforting smile easing the boy's pained expression.  
  
"Heartless, keyholes, keyblades....there has to be a connection. I don't think it was just a coincidence that Kairi's heart is gone when Sora and I are the keyblade masters."  
  
"Hmm..." Shadow put his chin in his hands and furrowed his brow in thought. He crossed his legs and hmph'ed again, thinking even harder. Then his yellow eyes flashed brighter and he snapped his fingers. Riku just cocked his head at his lover's strange behavior and sat up on his knees, waiting for an explanation.  
  
"Why don't we see exactly what happened when Kairi lost her heart?"  
  
Almost before he could finish his sentence, Riku leaned forward and took Shadow's mouth into an insistent, happy kiss. Letting go, Shadow began to lean forward to extend the lovely feeling of the kiss, but Riku was already standing up. The dark boy sighed and stood up, his dark chains jangling from his waist.  
  
Riku walked to the nearest wall of their cabin and placed his hand against it. The wood swirled together as blackness seeped from the wall, turning it into a black, reflective wall. The boy's soft aqua eyes hardened in concentration as he willed the shadows to do his bidding.  
  
After a shimmer, the wall showed a rock cave, gray and dark, with a hole on the top through which black clouds could be seen.  
  
"The secret place?"  
  
The image showed a boy in red, with wildly spiked brown hair running through the entrance of the cavern.  
  
"Sora." Riku let his hand rest against the image on the wall, stroking the picture of his friend's face. Shadow's face became impassive as he glared at his colorful form, running into the center of the cave before stopping and looking surprised. The image retreated and showed a door on the cave wall and a girl standing in front of it. Her eyes were half lidded and she turned around, far too slow for a girl her age.  
  
"That door. I've seen that door before." Riku remembered challenging Sora to go into the cave many times, dared on further by the roaring of the wind passing through it's channels. They had never known what the door was there for, but Riku sometimes felt drawn to it, and it would flicker into something....different sometimes.  
  
"Sora...." Kairi's soft voice sounded like it was a million miles from her body as it echoed in the cave softly before being drowned out by an explosive roar. The door flung itself open, and the familiar wisps of black and purple from the shadow world rushed in with the force of a hurricane. Kairi's light body was thrown forward and Sora extended his arms to catch her. But she passes straight through him, disappearing.  
  
Riku felt his breath catch. He had ordered the darkness to show him the very second when Kairi lost her heart. Sora was blown from the cave, and the darkness receded from the wall, leaving the creaking wood of the ship behind.  
  
'Sora...he took Kairi's heart.'  
  
~I told you boy, that you didn't want me to show you what happened to the girl.~  
  
'Why didn't you tell me in the first place.'  
  
~I have been in your mind all this time Riku, I know for a fact you wouldn't have believed me even if I had told you.~  
  
Riku's eyes shifted as he realized that Ansem was right. The man knew as much about Riku as he himself did. It caused an involuntary shiver to run through Riku's body.  
  
"We have to get Kairi's heart back. Sora took it away, maybe he knows how to get it back to her. All we have to do is bring him Kairi's body, and he'll give her her heart back."  
  
~Do you honestly think that Sora would be willing to do that? Why not talk to him first, and let Maleficent safely bring Kairi here to the ship. If you think that Sora really will revive the girl, you can come back through the shadows and take her body with you to the keyblade master.~  
  
"Shadow, do you have enough energy to move us one more time?"  
  
"With a little bit of your help, it'll be a sinch." Shadow winked and came up to stand beside Riku. He took the boy's hand in his and closed his eyes, drawing energy from the overabundance that was within Riku now. The floor turned once again into a gaping black hole, and both boy's commanded it to take them to the location of the keyblade master.  
  
After a moment of weightlessness as they fell through the shadows, both boys felt their feet land on something....squishy. Riku's eyes flew open and he let out a soft ewww. Shadow picked up one of his feet and looked incredulously at the pink goo that stuck to the bottom.  
  
"Yuck, this stuff is-" Riku clamped his hand over Shadow's mouth and took a step back, till they were hidden in the shadow of a nearby archway. Riku pointed over to what looked like a small wooden ship, lodged in the same pink goo they had landed in. Shadow followed the finger with his eyes and saw Sora, his two animal companions, and an old man and a puppet. Then the shadow's eyes trailed over their surroundings, and realized what the mysterious white triangles were.  
  
Mumbling something unhappily, Shadow sagged against Riku. The boy let his hand slide away from Shadow's mouth as he sensed the boy shielding himself from view. Leaning up till his mouth was against Riku's ear, Shadow whispered quietly, "We're inside something's mouth."  
  
Riku looked around and nodded his agreement.  
  
"And that doesn't bother you the slightest bit." Shadow's voice raised in pitch and Riku tried to get him to be quiet again before shaking his head back and forth to show that the mouth's of larger creatures didn't frighten him as much as it seemed to his companion.  
  
"Why me..." Shadow muttered before paying more attention to their target, and less to the teeth that were bigger than him.  
  
Riku's eyes focused on the small puppet, who was wondering away on his own.  
  
"I have an idea."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Riku just smirked before tugging Shadow along the wall of the whale's mouth until they reached the entrance to his throat. Riku pushed Shadow behind him, through the opening, then let the darkness slide away so that he could be seen. The puppet was hopping along on the ship, but quickly saw that a boy had just appeared in front of him. The strange silver haired boy smiled to him, before darting off into the depths of Monstro. Pinocchio was interested, and took off to give chase, ignoring his father and the three newcomers who had befriended him in Traverse Town.  
  
Sora looked around him on the boat, and realized that his company, a small puppet, had disappeared.  
  
"Gepetto, where did Pinocchio go?"  
  
The kind old man turned his spectacled eyes this way and that, but he couldn't find where the puppet had wandered off to.  
  
"I do hope Pinocchio is all right."  
  
Sora grinned and placed his keyblade over his shoulder. He sent a quick glance towards his companions, who groaned in the knowledge of what he was up to.  
  
"C'mon guys, we'll go find him." Sora leapt off the wooden ship lodged in Monstro's mouth and landed in the water that filled up the cavernous place. His yellow shoes made a disgusting squishy sound as he ran over the whale's tongue and into the creature's throat.  
  
Riku watched from his veil of shadows as Sora entered through the archway. His beautiful boyish features were in clear view as the keyblade master attempted to find the lost puppet. He pouted in an adorable expression and bit his lower lip as he spun his body around, looking at the walls of the whale's throat and the numerous entrances the puppet could have taken.  
  
Shadow kept his sharp eyes on both of the keyblade masters, one soaked in darkness, the other sprinkled in light. Shadow's golden eyes narrowed as he picked up the slightest move of his lover. Riku's tongue darted out and licked over his lips, his sea hued eyes glued to the body of the younger brunette. Shadow scowled and stepped out of the wall, coming up behind Pinocchio and pushing him out of the darkness beneath the archway to the stomach.  
  
"Hey Pinocchio, Geppetto is worried sick about you. We should go back."  
  
The puppet didn't worry much about the strange force which had propelled him forward, but instead shook his head back and forth. Sora was taken aback by the small boy's disobedience. Pinocchio turned and began to run through the archway.  
  
"Wait up Pinocchio. This is no time for games!"  
  
Riku stepped forward, and the three adventurers immediately looked toward him. Pinocchio did as well, before running up to stand next to him. His wooden eyes looked critically into the face of the silver haired boy he had given chase to. There was something in them that he had never seen before.  
  
"What's wrong Sora, I thought you liked to play games." Riku gave Sora his most seductive smirk and Sora's jaw hung open.  
  
"After all, you and I have played plenty of games with each other." Riku shifted his footing, flexing his muscles like a cat, languidly stretching as he let his arms fall to his sides and his head cock in a sexy way.  
  
Sora gulped and took a deep breath.  
  
"Riku....what are you doing here?"  
  
Shadow slid up behind Riku, glaring daggers at the boy who couldn't even see him. 'I'll teach him from trying to steal my Ku away from me.' Exerting the barest bit of dark power, Shadow slid it against Riku, who was too preoccupied to notice. Then the dark figure waited for his perfect chance.  
  
"I've come to get you Sora. To take you with me."  
  
Sora kept his eyes carefully on Riku. There was mistrust deep inside the boy over his best friend. The looks he was giving him, they were so familiar. Just like.....When Riku finished what he was saying, to Sora's horror, his blue-green eyes flashed a bright yellow. 'He's.....just like.....the other one.....'  
  
Shadow removed his influence before Riku could notice and took a seat in the background to watch his handiwork. Sora looked nervous and tense, as if ready to put up a fight. 'Perfect.'  
  
"H-Have you found Kairi?" The boy tried to change the subject, and forget the frightening vision he had just had.  
  
~Perhaps you should ask him if he wants her whole, or just part.~  
  
'Get out of my head. I know what I'm doing.'  
  
~Of course. I wouldn't want to be an impolite houseguest. But I thought I'd tell you, that I have used the shadow world to communicate with my dear puppet. She has Kairi's corpse--~  
  
'Body. It isn't a corpse. I will save her.'  
  
~Of course. My mistake, I apologize. Maleficent has her body and is transporting it to Hook's ship. It will be there when you return.~  
  
"Maybe. With no thanks to you. You've been too busy saving everyone else's hides, instead of worrying about the important ones."  
  
'Get out Ansem. I'm busy. I'll talk with you later.'  
  
~Of course. Be careful when dealing with the keyblade master, he may turn on you.~  
  
'Sora wouldn't do that. Now get out!'  
  
"Come on Pinocchio." Riku bent down and took the puppet's hard wooden hand in his. Turning, he threw back over his shoulder, "If you really care about Kairi, catch me and I'll tell you."  
  
As soon as he had disappeared through the next doorway, Riku picked up the puppet and fazed through a wall, the blackness dripping along the walls from where he had gone through. Shadow followed, carefully keeping his eye on the heartless that were beginning to emerge from the floor and walls behind them. They could sense both keyblade master's hearts, splitting into two groups, one attacking Sora's group as soon as they entered the room.  
  
Shadow drew his dark keyblade and took a swing at the requiems and operas that flew around his head. Blocking their magic attacks with his gloved hands, Shadow leapt forward and swiped at them with the keyblade, knocking them all out of the sky in the one swing.  
  
Riku and Shadow faded through a wall into a large open space. The round room had platform like pieces on all the walls, and the ceiling seemed to rise up to some part of the whale. Riku put Pinocchio down on the ground and took a step back to stand next to Shadow.  
  
"Whatcha planning to do with him?"  
  
"Easy. He's got a heart right? We let a heartless take his, and then we find out how we can get it back."  
  
"Ah, so like an experiment to see if it will work with Kairi, huh?"  
  
Riku nodded and looked around, using Ansem's powers to sense for the nearest heartless.  
  
"There's a big one up above us Shadow, do you have enough energy to bring him here?"  
  
Shadow grinned and reached forward, taking Riku's face in his hands. He pulled him close, the movement becoming familiar and pressed his lips to Riku's. Riku opened his mouth to his shadow lover and pressed his tongue into the warmth, feeling a tingling throughout his body as he did so. The black tongue pressed lightly against his, soaking up the power of the darkness that the body held. Shadow pulled away, looking less irritated and powered up.  
  
Pinocchio watched in wonder as a dark version of Sora suddenly appeared. Riku had been making some weird faces for the last few minutes, but he had thought nothing of it. Now the dark Sora, with his eyes glowing a soft golden color, leapt high above them, disappearing into the hole.  
  
"Who was that?"  
  
"No one for you to be concerned about." Riku snapped as he felt Shadow approach the large heartless above them. He could feel their energies clashing, the heartless a huge lumbering beast, and Shadow a quick flash of power and retreat.  
  
Sprinting forward, he grabbed Pinocchio out of the center of the room and ran to the side. A huge jelly-like heartless fell from the ceiling, it's two huge tentacles swinging around and trying to catch Shadow, who darted around on the creature like it was a jungle gym. The heartless made a dent in the floor where it landed, and then turned it's attention to the two who were hiding near the wall. With Shadow forgotten, the heartless opened up it's gaping mouth and reached for Riku and Pinocchio.  
  
"Chow time." Riku tossed the light wooden body into the air where the tentacles caught it and quickly brought the puppet into the cage mouth of the heartless.  
  
"Help me! Somebody!" Shadow suddenly looked nervous and leapt into one of the walls, as footsteps came rushing towards the room.  
  
'No. He found us before we could finish.' Darkness shot out of Riku's hand and melded itself into the dragon sword as Sora ran into the room, keyblade blazing. The duck and dog followed, but stopped behind Sora, watching his back.  
  
"Well Sora, how about you show me how good you've gotten?" Riku ran towards the heartless, keeping it occupied with harmless slashes of his dragon blade. Sora ran into the battle, intent on saving the poor puppet who was imprisoned. Riku kept a watchful eye on Sora's moves, and the abilities of his keyblade. Each strike injured the enormous heartless who's aim and power were quickly decreasing as the keyblade master hacked away at it.  
  
~For someone you swear is kind and good, he fights like a demon.~  
  
'I said to get out of my head. And Sora is only being so vicious because it's a worthless heartless.'  
  
~Such a friend, would you call Kairi worthless to her face as well.~  
  
'Get out.'  
  
~I must wonder, would Sora be as cruel to Kairi, knowing that she was without a heart as well.....~  
  
'OUT!'  
  
Riku let the dragon blade dissolve in his hands as Sora thrust his keyblade one final time into the beast. It slowly dissolved as well, leaving Pinocchio thankful to the brunette. Sora bent down and patted the puppet on his head before looking at Riku. The two had once again been fighting side by side, but Sora looked suspicious of Riku. A few feet grew to a few miles between them.  
  
"Gawrsh, where'd he go?" The strange dog creature looked around, scratching it's head. Riku looked around and realized that Pinocchio must have slunk off while he and Sora had been staring each other down.  
  
"I'll find him." Riku ran past his best friend, giving him a thumbs up as he passed.  
  
'Riku's changed. I feel...different around him. Like I get the creeps just talking to him.'  
  
Sora let the shiver run down his spine before calling to Donald and Goofy. They took off as well, searching for the lost puppet.  
  
Riku whistled for his companion, and Shadow emerged from a nearby wall, running at full speed.  
  
"Shadow we need to get that puppet and take it's heart."  
  
"No prob Ku. I got a plan." The two sprinting boys came to a large room that rose into the air like a column.  
  
"There he is." Riku pointed up at the puppet who was scrambling up the platforms in the whale. He seemed scared, although rightly so considering someone had just tried to feed him to a heartless.  
  
"Right. I'm gonna go get another heartless, you keep him in that upper chamber till I can get it to you."  
  
Riku nodded and sprang up onto the first squishy platform. He still didn't like the way the creature's inner flesh felt against his shoes. 'Man, I gotta clean these when I get home.' Riku ran forward, leaping forward onto the next highest platform. Pinocchio saw this and gasped, doubling his speed. But the puppet's legs had no chance of carrying him fast enough away from Riku's pursuit.  
  
Riku grabbed onto the next platform and heaved himself up onto it. Not wasting a minute, he dove forward and caught one of the puppet's heals. He let out a scream as he was picked up and hung upside down.  
  
"Oh just shut up will you. We need your help to save a friend of mine." Pinocchio sniffled and his lip quivered as he tried to use a puppy dog face to get out of his situation. Riku wasn't affected, and took a strong hold on the puppet before leaping up into the whale. The wind and suction carried them upward till they were thrown into another round chamber.  
  
Riku threw Pinocchio down to the ground before inspecting the new chamber. There was a foul smelling green liquid that ran around the outside, and Riku guessed that it wouldn't be very healthy to step in, and wisely stayed towards the middle of the room. He could sense the dark movements in the walls and turned to see Shadow emerge.  
  
"Have you found one yet?"  
  
"Yes, it's right above here, but it's putting up quite a fight. If you can keep the puppet here I'll be able to send it down soon."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Shadow smiled and gave a quick salute to the keyblade master before fazing into the wall and traveling up into the next part of Monstro. Riku looked at Pinocchio, who was shaking in fear, and sneered at him.  
  
'This worthless puppet. He better help us to find a way to get Kairi's heart back.'  
  
A soft sound caught Riku's ears, and he called upon the shadows in the floor to show him what was making the sound. The blackness rippled for a second before showing Sora and his two companions climbing rapidly up the platforms and heading for the room he was in right now.  
  
There was no way that Riku would be able to find out how to return the puppet's heart at this rate, Shadow had not even returned with the heartless yet. Summoning more of the darkness, Riku pushed it deep into the puppet. He froze, his limbs going taught as the shadows intruded into him and paralyzed him. Then they took over fully, and his body fell to the floor, limp and unconscious.  
  
'Well, not the way I had hoped, but maybe I can do something with this situation after all.' Riku picked up Pinocchio's light body and tossed it to the other side of the room, on one of the platforms he was surrounded by. That way Sora would have go through him to get to the puppet.  
  
The opening in the front of the chamber blew open and Sora, Donald, and Goofy came flying through, their weapons at the ready. Riku just smiled and stood calmly in the center of the room. Sora's bright blue eyes looked hesitant as he approached.  
  
"Riku, what's going on here?" Then the brown haired keyblade master's eyes found the limp body of Pinocchio. Sora took a step forward, preparing to go after the puppet, but Riku took a step to the side, ready to block his way.  
  
"What's wrong Sora? Why should you care so much for a puppet without a heart?"  
  
Sora and the others gasped. Jiminy cricket leapt from one of Sora's pockets and hopped over to Pinocchio, as Riku watched in amusement. The cricket pushed and pleaded with the puppet to wake up, but the darkness continued to have a hold over him and he did not move.  
  
Riku watched this all with a smirk, until he realized that Sora had run over to where the puppet was while he wasn't looking. Suddenly, the darkness began to seep out from Pinocchio's body.  
  
'What?' Riku tried to force the shadows again to do his bidding, but something was stopping him. The puppet slowly woke up, and everyone else sighed with relief. Riku's fists clenched in anger as he watched Sora cheer for the puppet.  
  
"Sora."  
  
The keyblade master turned to his name, an innocent look sweeping briefly over his face, before the suspicion returned. Riku could sense from Sora that he didn't trust him. He could also feel the battle raging on above them. Shadow was trying to subdue the huge heartless, and was doing a decent job. He would be ready to send him down soon. But the whole plan was ruined now.  
  
"Riku. What's made you change like this?"  
  
"Who says I'm the one who's changed? At least I've been out trying everything to bring back Kairi."  
  
"Why do you keep bringing that up Riku?" Sora pleaded with his friend, but seemed to be keeping his distance. Riku smiled and let his anger fade away, after all, he had seen that Sora had stolen Kairi's heart. 'Why would he want to find her when he's the one who did that to her.'  
  
Riku extended his hand, keeping his eyes locked with Sora's.  
  
"Come with me Sora. We can all be together again, just like before."  
  
Sora felt a cold chill run through him. The way Riku was smiling at him, he looked almost.....hungry. Sora took a step back towards the safety of Donald and Goofy, and the keyblade appeared in his hand. He slowly shook his head back and forth.  
  
"I see. You turn on me just because of some useless puppet." Riku practically growled at him, before letting the invitation of his hand drop. Finally he could feel that Shadow had won over the heartless and was waiting for a signal to drop it down.  
  
Sora stood with his keyblade ready for attack, but soon Riku was taking slow steps backwards.  
  
"It's too bad Sora, that you chose to be against me. We would have been good together." Sora started at the double meaning, and his eyes went wide as a black circle formed behind Riku, and the silver haired boy walked through.  
  
"Wait a second Riku!" As Sora ran forward, he heard a horrible shriek and looked up to see a huge heartless falling from the ceiling. His pursuit of his friend would have to wait for now. Drawing out the keyblade, he ran forward, beginning the battle even while his mind was far from it.  
  
Riku stepped out of the shadows and found himself once again on Hook's ship.  
  
~I'm sorry Riku.~  
  
'Don't pretend. Get away, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now.'  
  
The shadow world opened again and Shadow stumbled through, panting. Trying to keep up with Riku was like racing after the wind.  
  
"You know......maybe you should.....try taking the bus sometime."  
  
Riku's mouth barely twitched into a smile but was gone in an instant. He began to pace back and forth across their room, his fists clenching every now and then angrily.  
  
Glass shattered and Shadow jumped off of the floor, his whole body tightening up. When he looked towards Riku, the boy's fist was stuck directly out the window of the cabin. Blood was slowly dripping from the wound, turning the window into stained glass.  
  
Running to his lover's aid, Shadow carefully pulled his hand from the broken pane. Pieces of glass were imbedded in Riku's glove, most only nicking his skin enough to draw blood. Excruciatingly careful, Shadow removed the black glove and the shards from Riku's hand before looking around for something to bandage it with. Reaching over, he grabbed one of the curtains and ripped it down from the ruined window, wrapping it around Riku's injured hand.  
  
"Thanks." With that muttered, the two were intruded on by a knock at their cabin door.  
  
"Come on in." Shadow yelled, as cheerily as he could. Riku slipped his black glove over as much of his bandaged knuckles as he could, although part of the bandage was still visible. He wisely put this hand in his pocket for the time being.  
  
A tall dark figure entered the room, the horns betraying its identity. Maleficent strode to the center of the room, her figure never jarred as she flowed rather than walked across the floor. Then she opened up her black and purple cloak, revealing a small girl in her arms.  
  
~'Kairi.'~  
  
"Here is the last princess of hearts."  
  
Riku didn't wait for an order and took the light burden from Maleficent. Kairi was still sound asleep, or so it would seem to anyone who saw her in this state. Her eyes were closed, but Riku still reached forward and brushed away a stray piece of hair in her face. He placed her on the bed, carefully, as if not to awaken her.  
  
"So this is Kairi." Shadow walked over to look at her, mumbling softly.  
  
"Thank you Maleficent." Riku's eyes never left Kairi even as he spoke to the witch.  
  
"I made a promise. Now Riku, will you be staying with us?" The woman's voice was smooth and conniving, and Riku knew it. But he had no where else to go, and was stuck with Ansem anyway.  
  
"I will."  
  
"Wonderful. Now, to make life easier for you, I have a gift."  
  
Riku finally turned to face the woman, and saw that she had a small ball of green light in her hand. He and Shadow both looked between the energy and the woman, skeptical of a gift from the dark woman.  
  
"It will give you the power to control the heartless." Riku decided to take a risk and reached out to seize the orb. His body began to glow and feel warmer, and more powerful as the green energy flowed into him.  
  
Without anyone noticing, Maleficent had slipped out of the room. Riku stood there, feeling the new power within him. But something was wrong. The power felt vaguely familiar.  
  
Shadow came up to Riku, bringing him out of his contemplation with a clearing of his throat.  
  
"So, umm, you can, I guess, control the, um, heartless now, so I guess I'll just, um, you know." Shadow motioned with a jerk of his thumb towards the wall and began to turn towards it. The shadows opened a portal for him, but Shadow felt something snag onto his hood and hold him in place.  
  
Riku gently turned Shadow around and pulled him into a brief hug.  
  
"How could you think that Shadow?" Riku mumbled into the soft dark hair he had his face pressed into.  
  
"Well, my only real purpose was to protect you. I figured you wouldn't want me hanging around now that you can actually control the heartless."  
  
Riku gently pulled Shadow's face away from his shoulder and placed a kiss on the boy's forehead.  
  
"I would never let you leave me Shadow." Then the two had their lips pressed together before either realized they had done so. They stood, Riku bending his neck down to reach his lover's mouth, and his silver hair fell into the black spikes of Shadow's, moon rays cutting through the shadows of midnight. 


	7. Gone

Shadow looked around, but couldn't find his master anywhere. The dark gray mists of this world were settled permanently on the ground and as Shadow walked through them, he made little eddies that swirled then returned to their place. A huge white full moon hung above him, creating pitch-black shadows beneath horrific statues of gargoyles and ghosts.  
  
A few heartless passed by, their colors and appearances suited to the strange inhabitants of this world. Shadow found that he liked Halloweentown. The people were all strange and creepy, and he and Riku had made sure that they fit in. Two furry black ears protruded from Shadow's head, and a scruffy tail fell almost to the ground. His feet and hands were huge paws with short but sharp claws. Even his black jumpsuit was torn in places, allowing black fur to stick through. His unchanged golden eyes added the perfect finishing touch to his werewolf costume.  
  
"Riku!!" He called out, cupping his paws against his mouth. Somehow, the dark keyblade master had slipped away from him at some point while they were tracking down Sora and his friends in the shadows and fog of this world.  
  
"RIKU!!!"  
  
A black gloved hand touched Shadow's shoulder and the boy yelped and spun around. Riku just laughed softly at his antics before motioning for him to follow. Even in his costume, anyone could easily tell that it was Riku. Along his silver hair were two small pointed ears, with short black fur on them. A soft jingle announced his every step from the silver bell hanging off of a black collar he wore. One major advantage of controlling the darkness was that it could do things for an outfit that would be nearly impossible for a normal person. Along his face and arms, the only exposed parts of Riku's skin, were black stripes, like a tabby cat. His shirt was black and skin tight, with large rips across it. He wore gray and black belts around his waist, and his signature pants which were large and baggy. They were black and gray striped as well, adding to the tabby cat motif he had going. His shoes and gloves were both very simple, just black and covered in the same soft black fur as his ears.  
  
"So......where we goin?" Shadow caught up with Riku and fell in step with the clunking sound of his boots.  
  
"Sora."  
  
Shadow grumbled and his ears pressed against his head in frustration. They had all the seven princesses, and all they had to do was deliver Kairi to the castle of Hollow Bastion and then he and Riku could go wherever they like. But no, he insisted on constantly watching Sora, controlling the heartless around him to test out his friend and try and make him change sides. Shadow was getting sick of it, but some dark part inside him was happy for it. Every time Riku saw Sora helping others instead of looking for Kairi, he became angrier and angrier.  
  
The sound of fighting told Riku and Shadow exactly where their quarry was and they concealed themselves with the darkness as they stepped through a decrepit stone wall. The keyblade master was rushing forward, leaping into the air at the last second to strike down a flying heartless. The Gargoyle disappeared when he was pierced by the blade, and elsewhere White Knights were being electrocuted by the small duck's lightning magic.  
  
When that batch of heartless had been defeated, another wave was preparing to rise from their crypts but Riku held up his head and they stopped. The darkness swallowed them up again and Sora and company began to talk about something. A girl stepped out of the shadow of a tombstone, parts of herself held together by what looked like stitches. Shadow watched as the girl wobbly approached the disguised heroes and gave them a small plant.  
  
~Seems the errand boy has been out again.~  
  
'Where did you come from?'  
  
~More business, I assure you. Some heartless needed my assistance.~  
  
'Sure. Whatever. Why don't you go back and "assist" them some more?'  
  
~Tsk tsk. Riku, my boy, don't take your anger out on me. Just because you see what I told you was the truth. Now go back to the ship. We don't have time for your...sightseeing anymore. If you want any chance of getting Kairi's heart back, we must take her to Hollow Bastion as soon as we can.~  
  
'Fine.'  
  
"Shadow."  
  
The golden eyed boy looked up, his wolf's ears perking up as well. Sora and the others had walked away during Riku's conversation with Ansem, and Shadow had been amusing himself with a ghost dog.  
  
"Isn't he cute? We should take him with us."  
  
Riku rolled his eyes and created a portal in the wall to use to get back to Hook's ship.  
  
"Don't you want to see if Sora gets the heart working?"  
  
~"We don't care what he does."~  
  
Blending into the darkness, Shadow wondered if it had been his imagination, or if Riku had just referred to himself as being plural. Shrugging it off, he too let his body be dragged away by his element, the darkness.  
  
The feel of the hard wood beneath his feet comforted Riku as compared to the soft, groaning ground of the cemetery in Halloweentown. The ship was perfectly still as Shadow thumped down onto the floor behind Riku.  
  
"We aren't moving?"  
  
"No. I guess Hook doesn't know that we're back yet."  
  
Shadow smiled and grabbed Riku's hand, leading him quickly through the corridors of the ship. Finally feeling a bit cheered up, Riku let himself be dragged through doors and up stairs by the strong shadow.  
  
They reached the red door and Shadow barreled through it as well, the door slamming into the wall as he kicked it open.  
  
"We're back!!"  
  
The two stopped short in their tracks as they witnessed the mayhem around them. Pirate heartless were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, Shadows were popping up out of the woodworks only to be cut down by a blur of green.  
  
~"Leave them alone for barely an hour, and all hell breaks loose."~  
  
Shadow snickered and ran to the railing, watching the newcomer battle the enormous amounts of heartless around him. He wore green....lots of green, and was flying through the air.  
  
"No fair. I want to fly."  
  
Riku rolled his eyes and continued searching the deck, until he found the person he was looking for. The bumbling Captain Hook stood behind a wave of Pirates as they used their enormous swords to fend off the flying boy. In his arms was a girl in a blue nightgown, tied up with rope and gagged.  
  
"Five bucks says that girl is what the fairy boy is after."  
  
"Yep." Shadow nodded before suddenly breaking into laughter. Riku cocked his head and gave his lover a questioning glance. A dark finger pointed to the other side of the large ship where small Battleships were raising into the air.  
  
"They brought out the cavalry." Doubling over in laughter, Shadow finally fell onto the floor and sat, with his legs poking through the railing as he observed the aerial battle.  
  
~The fool.~  
  
'Huh? What are you so pissy about?'  
  
~We have all six of the other princesses in Hollow Bastion, and Kairi is aboard the ship. Now that idiot is risking everything by capturing that Wendy girl.~  
  
'Is that wannabe jolly green giant really that dangerous?'  
  
~To someone as inept as Hook, he could be deadly.~  
  
'I'll take care of it.'  
  
~Good to see at least one keyblade master cares about the girl.~  
  
Riku leapt over the railing and rolled as he landed on the lowest level of the ship. As he was about to stand up, a flaming battleship being pestered by the boy came careening straight for him.  
  
"Woah!" He jumped and rolled forward, narrowly missing the flaming wreckage. When he did stand up, he shot a death glare to Captain Hook as he menacingly approached.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Capturing the last of these scurvy princesses, what does it look like you brat?"  
  
"Hey codfish!"  
  
Both turned to see the boy hovering in the air in front of them, sticking his tongue out at Hook.  
  
"Come down here and fight like a man, Peter Pan!" The captain shook his hook at the boy, who just laughed at his pathetic request.  
  
Everyone on the ship was thrown to the ground as the engine was abruptly started and the ship flew through the air. Recovering his balance, Riku stood up and squared off against Pan.  
  
"Leave this ship, or I'll have to make you sorry. You can have the girl, she is useless."  
  
"You're not the captain of this ship. I'll never give her up. It's taken me too long to come this far." Hook protectively clung to the bounded girl, who pleaded at Peter with her eyes.  
  
"You fool, what are-" Riku was interrupted as someone's foot was abruptly thrust into his stomach. The cocky boy ricocheted off of Riku and flew straight for Hook.  
  
"Oh that's it. Now you're not getting away." Riku snarled angrily and called up the more powerful Air Pirates that he had been keeping back from the fray. They immediately grabbed hold of Peter Pan and flew up into the air with him. Hook laughed as if he had been the one to send them into battle, and stood to watch the battle progress with the air of a victor.  
  
"Shadow." Riku said very calmly, and in an instant the boy was at his side.  
  
"You want to fly. Fine. Teach that little annoyance a lesson." Riku placed his hand on Shadow's back and poured enough darkness into him to make the boy's body jump. Black leathery wings rose out of him, and Shadow grinned maniacally before flapping the wings to give them a test and taking off into the air.  
  
"Ha. You guys aren't nearly fast enough to stop me." Peter Pan threw his arms forward, bashing the two Air Pirates against each other and knocking them out. Then he drew his small knife and flew in circles around the remaining two, before diving in and spinning his body. The knife dug into the heartless and they returned to the darkness as Pan crowed happily.  
  
"Hey fairy boy. Come try a piece of this." Shadow hovered in front of the young boy, his dark wings spread out to his sides, keeping him airborne. Drawing the dark keyblade to himself, Shadow brought his hand to his lips and blew a kiss to Peter. The boy's face flushed red in anger and he charged blindly.  
  
Shadow used his newly acquired wing like a matador cape and let Pan charge straight by him. A quick flick of his sword, and the boy was knocked unconscious and flung to the ground. Riku stood over him, sneering at the boy's weakness. Shadow landed nearby, and his dark wings disappeared in a black sparkle.  
  
"Hey. I liked those." He pouted sadly and tried to guilt Riku into giving them back.  
  
"No Shadow. You don't need them and they're using up my power."  
  
~Not really. You know that as long as I'm with you, you have unlimited power over the darkness.~  
  
'Yes. But it also means drawing it off of you. And I'd rather not.'  
  
"Come on Shadow. Let's put this guy in the hold."  
  
"What about her?" He motioned to Wendy, who had been forgotten by Hook and was trying to crawl away.  
  
"I don't want to hurt her. We can take her back to where she came from. Put her with Kairi."  
  
Shadow carefully picked up the kicking and angry girl, and attempted to carry her back into the ship without getting too badly injured. Riku reached down and roughly grabbed the unconscious boy and threw him over his shoulder. He followed the struggling shadow until they reached the different corridors that they needed to take. Shadow opened up a door and carefully un-gagged the girl.  
  
"Why I never! How dare you do that to me? I demand that you return me to my home right this instant!" Shadow ignored the angry rantings of the young girl and untied the ropes around her.  
  
Thump. Riku stopped halfway down the ladder he was on and climbed back up, only to see Shadow sitting on his backside, a large red footprint on his face. Shaking his head a few times, the boy got up and rolled his sleeves up, stepping into the room.  
  
Riku just laughed and jumped the rest of the way down the ladder. Through a few more ladders and doors, he eventually found himself in the hold of Hook's ship. Barrels and boxes littered the area, and ropes fell from upper levels where some careless Pirate must have knocked them over. Riku kicked the door open and threw the limp body of Pan into it.  
  
Walking back up the stairs, Riku could hear a fierce war being raged on in the level above him. It sounded like it was coming from his cabin. Screeches and the sound of things breaking started to worry the silver haired boy as he ran faster up the remaining ladder and quickly opened up the door leading to where he had last seen Shadow.  
  
The dark boy kneeled behind an overturned table, blocking the broken vases and the hefty treasure chests that the screaming harpy was throwing at him. Propped up in a corner, protected by a bookshelf, Kairi's motionless body sat.  
  
"How dare you say that about Peter!?!" A picture frame nearly took Shadow's head off as he ducked at the last possible second.  
  
"Oh come on. He lives with a bunch of "lost boys"." Shadow grabbed a broken shard of glass from behind him and threw it over the table at the girl. Wendy didn't have to dodge it as it landed harmlessly a few feet in front of her.  
  
"I don't care why you said it, you little weasel."  
  
"Weasel?" Riku asked, but the two mortal combatants didn't take any notice of him.  
  
"Seriously, you little prick, I didn't mean it as an insult. Coming from me, it's a compliment!" Shadow finally stood up and wrapped his hands around the bottom of the overturned table. Seeing that it could endanger the still form of his friend, Riku made a move to block him. Shadow stood up and hurled the table at her, but by putting up just one arm, the table broke and splintered around Riku.  
  
"Enough fighting Shadow. Let's go." Riku walked out the door, leaving two very shocked people in his wake. Shadow followed after him though, and locked Wendy into the room before he left.  
  
Riku walked the five feet down the hall to their room before turning around and looking at Shadow. The boy was still staring into the room where Wendy was, walking backwards. He was muttering angry curses and empty threats. His feet eventually took him too far and he ran right into Riku. The older boy's strong arms wrapped around him and kept him from falling down.  
  
Shadow was worried that maybe Riku was angry at him, for what he had done in there, and turned very slowly to meet his eyes. But there was a smirk on his face, and his green eyes were warmer than they had been in a while. Reaching over, Riku turned the knob on their door and began to walk into their room, still holding Shadow.  
  
Walking backwards, Shadow grinned mischievously at Riku and his golden eyes gleamed with excitement. Riku closed the door and wrapped that hand back around Shadow's waist, pulling him closer. Leaning up, he pressed his dark lips against the near white of Riku's and let the boy guide him backwards.  
  
Reaching the middle of their small cabin, Riku couldn't stand it any more and let his hands trail down from Shadow's waist, down to his thighs. The boy shivered at his touch, but continued to kiss him passionately, impatiently. Riku's hands traveled farther down to wrap themselves around Shadow's knees. Slowly and smoothly, the two knelt down to the floor, until Riku was lying over Shadow, the boy's knees pressing against Riku's ribs.  
  
Riku pulled away from the kiss, but Shadow's greedy mouth tried to follow. Knowing how much his lover liked it rough, Riku grabbed onto Shadow's spiky black hair with one hand and pulled his head back. Unable to see what was happening, all Shadow felt was the soft wet sensation of Riku's tongue on his neck. The knees around his ribs closed tighter as Riku licked and then sucked on the boy's strong neck.  
  
Shadow giggled at the strange sensation, but Riku pulled hard on his hair to stop that. If he didn't know better, the dark boy would have thought that his lover had gotten more aggressive in the past few weeks. More so than he would have expected. But he didn't mind.  
  
Riku let go of Shadow's hair and unzipped the top half of his black jumpsuit. Slipping his cold hands under the shirt, Shadow began to squirm as he felt them slide across his chest, teasing with feather light fingertips.  
  
"That tickles."  
  
Riku smiled and ran his hands along the boy's side, making him writhe even more. Then he let them wander down to where his boxer's began, and without hesitation slipped them under. Shadow let out a gasp and the legs he had been clutching around Riku fell indecently apart. As the boy's hand's warmed up, they began to rub Shadow's length, and the dark creature groaned underneath the older boy. Suddenly Riku stopped all his movement, and his eyes grew far away. Shadow moved, trying to get Riku to continue, but instead he pulled his hands out from under his boxers and sat up on his knees.  
  
"Hey..." Shadow waved his hand in front of Riku's face, but his sea green eyes were blank, and he could tell that his lover was zoned out again.  
  
Riku had felt something brush against his mind and was searching it out.  
  
'I know you're here. Now stop hiding.'  
  
~I didn't want to.....interrupt.~  
  
'Yeah right. Now why are you here?'  
  
~Just to tell you that your friend Sora is approaching.~  
  
Not believing him, Riku tried to read Ansem's mind as he had done before. But the walls were too hard this time, he couldn't even sense Ansem's emotions anymore.  
  
~I don't believe you were invited Riku.~  
  
'And I don't believe you're paying any rent for my body.'  
  
Suddenly, the entire ship lurched to a stop. Riku and Shadow went tumbling across the floor, rolling over each other until they hit the wall. Shadow sat straddling Riku and smiled at him.  
  
"About time." Leaning down, he began to force a kiss on Riku who was trying to push him off.  
  
"Sorry Shadow-" Riku was stopped by another demanding kiss. Giving him what he wanted, Riku let Shadow explore his mouth, feeling with his long wet tongue. Pushing against his shoulders, Riku freed himself and sat up, Shadow still sitting on his lap.  
  
"We have to find out what's wrong. Come on." Riku stood up and waited at the door of their room for Shadow to zip his jumpsuit back up. His eyes a little duller than usual, Shadow huffed and walked up to Riku, latching onto an arm.  
  
"I'm make it up to you later luv." Riku ran his finger down Shadow's soft face before stepping through the door and making his way to the captain's quarters. Everyone seemed still and quiet on the ship, all the heartless remained in the floors and walls, except the few Pirates who lounged against walls, keeping guard. Obviously the ship wasn't under attack or being boarded, otherwise the heartless would have been the first to know about it.  
  
"What's up Ku?"  
  
"I don't Shadow." Without even knocking the boy opened the captain's door and strolled in, Shadow still clinging at his side. Hook and Smee stood looking out the window at the dark space they were traveling through.  
  
"Why have we stopped?" Riku spoke in a commanding tone, some of Ansem's superiority complex seeming to have rubbed off on him.  
  
"There's a mysterious vessel in front of us. It is blocking our way to Hollow Bastion, and we're deciding whether or not to take her out."  
  
Riku walked forward and peered through the grimy glass as well. A small ship was darting between asteroids, it stood out against the dark background with it's yellow and orange and red blocks. He almost couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen that Gummi Ship before.  
  
~'The keyblade master.'~  
  
"Ram that ship captain." Riku walked quickly out of the cabin and onto the deck of the ship. Powering itself up, the ship sprung to life and charged forward, quickly outrunning and outmaneuvering the smaller ship. Banking a quick turn, it set itself on a head on collision course for the Gummi Ship.  
  
Like a bug hitting the windshield of a car, the smaller ship was smashed and thrown out into space, where it sat motionless and teetering sideways. Riku pressed his hand to the ground and summoned the Air Pirates from wherever in the ship they may have been. They rose out of the shadows on the ground and hovered in the air, their feet swinging back and forth.  
  
"Shadow. Some rope." The boy smiled and put his hands behind his back. When he pulled them out again, he had long coils of black rope hanging from them. Riku grabbed a few of them and tossed one end to each Air Pirate. Shadow did the same, holding onto the other ends.  
  
Gliding on their purple wings, the Air Pirates reached the ship and tied the dark ropes around it. Giving a thumbs up to those on the pirate ship, they flew behind the Gummi Ship and began to push it slowly back to the ship. Shadow, Riku, and a few Shadows who had risen from the ground took the ropes and wrapped them around a few posts on that side of the boat. Pulling, they began to drag the small ship closer and closer.  
  
With one final heave, and Gummi Ship slammed against the side of the Hook's ship. Hook ordered that the ship head for Neverland, to restock before they reached Hollow Bastion since that world was so much closer. Riku nodded and watched as the world came into view, with it's dark seas.  
  
The extra heartless faded back into the ship, or wandered around deck, ending up back at their positions. Riku pressed his face against the clear dome of the ship, which had been dented by the collision, and could see three forms inside.  
  
Darkness spread out of Riku, and he used it to force open the top of the ship. Sora and his two companions all seemed fine, just unconscious from the hard hit they had taken.  
  
"Shadow, would you mind taking the duck and dog down below deck. You can put them in with the fairy boy."  
  
"Aye aye Ku, sir!" Shadow saluted and took Donald under one arm, and slung Goofy over his shoulder. Giving a sloppy salute, a pool of black seeped out under him and he slid through the deck of the ship, taking the most direct route down to the hold.  
  
Riku leaned over and took Sora gently in his arms, pulling him out of the Gummi Ship. Using a little bit of his power, he opened up a portal and sent the ship down to another level below him. After taking care of that bit of business, he set his green eyes on the boy in his arms. He wondered how long he had obsessed over Sora, before they had been taken off the island. Every moment the boy had plagued his mind. He had just assumed that Sora felt the same way, even if it was just as friends. But this journey had sent them both in different directions, and now Riku realized that Sora cared about anyone and everyone, but never seriously.  
  
~'He claims to search for Kairi. But I doubt he even cares about her anymore.'~  
  
Feeling the boy start to stir, Riku put him down lightly on the deck. 'Why did you have to change Sora?' He backed away, trying to stay as quiet as he could as he walked up to the next level on deck, not wanting to be too close when the keyblade master woke up. Sensing his heart nearby, the Pirates began to walk stealthily forward, keeping their eyes on Riku to see if he was going to do anything. He just leaned against the railing, knowing that he could tap into Ansem's powers at any second and destroy every heartless on the ship in an instant.  
  
"Wh-what?" Sora shook his head and stood up, looking around the deck of the ship. He was facing the bow, and could see the dark blue ocean. He began to look around, and did a double take when he saw the familiar silver haired boy on the deck. Hook and Smee came up behind him, sneering at their captive. Heartless danced around him, not quite coming close enough to attack him yet.  
  
"Riku?"  
  
"Nice to see you again Sora." Riku said coldly. Sora didn't seem happy to see him, again. And, as he slowly realized, he wasn't happy to see Sora either.  
  
~'The heartless should just attack him already. They've had plenty of chances to stop him.'~  
  
"Riku, why are you siding with the heartless?"  
  
"Now how is that a way to greet," Riku paused, smiling wickedly, "old friends." He could practically feel the shiver that ran through Sora. He was sure that the keyblade master could sense the change in him, the darkness that was at his every beckon call.  
  
'Shadow. Send Kairi up through a portal.' Riku sent extra darkness through his feet to the floor, allowing his friend to send up the girl up from her place in the cabins below. Riku could sense the girl's body sitting limply behind him, hidden from view.  
  
"Please Riku, don't do this."  
  
"I'm tired of your talk Sora. While you were out gallivanting with your useless friends, I was out actually doing what we set out to do. You keep asking about me, when really," Riku took a step aside, and relished in the shock and pain on Sora's sapphire eyes, "you should be asking about her."  
  
"Kairi!" Sora took a step forward, but stopped when Riku raised a black gloved hand.  
  
"I've also picked up a few new tricks Sora. And I think you'll get a kick out of this one." Putting his hand facing the deck in front of Sora, Riku noticed that the boy was standing just a few footsteps in front of the door that led below deck. He smiled to himself and tugged on the darkness, creating a portal directly in front of Sora.  
  
The dark spikes of Shadow rose out of the ground, his yellow eyes gleaming with delight as he stood up, filled with the power of the fear he inflicted. Sora's whole body went slack as he stumbled backwards, almost falling down. It was the creature, the one that had.....the one he had dreamed....was it a dream anymore? Shadow smiled, an obsidian reflection as he walked slowly forward. Sora's feet finally found their way onto the trap door and Riku used the darkness to pull the lever.  
  
Sora cried out as he fell through the trap door and continued to fall through each deck, as the darkness opened up for him, until he landed in the hold. Specifically, he landed on top of his other friends.  
  
Riku laughed and returned to the captain's quarter, with Hook and Shadow at his heels.  
  
"Now then Hook, since we're here on Neverland, we'll let the girl and boy go."  
  
"Have ye gone mad! I've spent too long trying to capture that rotten brat Peter Pan to let him go now!"  
  
"The girl isn't one of the princesses. You knew that. Nothing else matters so long as we open the final keyhole." Riku turned, an evil expression covering his face which had moments ago been cheerful. "If you jeopardize this because of your pride, you'll have to answer to someone higher than me."  
  
"Who? My dear friend Maleficent."  
  
"You wish." Riku muttered as he sat down on one of the plush chairs in the cabin. He happened to glance out one of the windows and saw the heartless carrying Kairi back to her cabin, to keep the Wendy girl company.  
  
"Shadow?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
~"Keep an eye on the keyblade master for me. I don't want Sora screwing anything up. Make sure he doesn't go near Kairi."~  
  
Bowing, Shadow nodded to his friend and master. In a poof of black smoke, there were suddenly four copies of Shadow standing around. They were powerless, and had no eyes, a sign that they were just fake copies, not useful in battle. They floated through the floor, heading down to numerous parts of the ship.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"What wow?" Riku looked at Shadow, who's yellow eyes seemed to be zoned out, not quite looking at anything.  
  
"He's already gotten out of the hold. And he has fairy boy with him."  
  
"This isn't good. If Sora takes Kairi away, we'll never be able to open the final keyhole and get her heart back."  
  
"It's hopeless anyway lad. The heartless have devoured that girl's heart and it's never coming back." Hook snickered.  
  
"You're wrong. I will save her."  
  
"Ah!" Shadow gasped and his body convulsed. Looking at Riku, he smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Sora destroyed one of my copies. And it looks like he's heading for another one."  
  
"I don't like this. Come on Shadow. I'm going to go get Kairi."  
  
Shadow convulsed again as another bit of darkness was returned to him. Then he hiccupped. Riku couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the boy, but headed for Kairi's cabin anyway.  
  
As the two walked down the hallway towards the room where the girl's were being kept, they could hear a high voice yelling up through the floor.  
  
"Sora?" Riku listened carefully, putting his ear to the floor.  
  
"Wendy, is there another girl up there with you?"  
  
Riku stood up. "He must be talking to Wendy through the floor. We better get in there."  
  
Shadow followed the order and opened the door. His eyes met with his archrival. The girl stood up, preparing to make an escape until she saw Riku enter as well. The boy was big for his age, and he had always worn his clothes in order to show off his huge muscles. She was preoccupied with looking at him while Shadow snuck behind her and wrapped his hand over her mouth. Pumping the darkness into her, her eyes fluttered close and she stopped moving. With less care than he should, Shadow dropped her to the floor and crossed his arms, pleased at a job well done.  
  
Riku took the light form of his close friend in his arms, and stood listening to the confused pleas of Sora from the level beneath him. Shifting his burden to make her easier to carry, Riku exited that room only to enter he and Shadow's cabin next door. The whole ship was interconnected through ladders and cabins. Shadow helped Riku pull down the ladder in their cabin which led directly up into Captain Hook's quarters. They climbed up, and reaching Hook's cabin, Riku sat down on the window seat, with Kairi lying in his lap.  
  
Riku stared at Shadow for a few minutes before the small boy began to shift his feet back and forth.  
  
"What is it Ku?"  
  
"Just the fact that you overreacted in there. Letting that girl get the best of you. Tsk tsk. Come on Shadow, you could annihilate her any minute, don't let her get to you."  
  
"If you'd let me kill her, then I wouldn't have this problem."  
  
"She's innocent Shadow."  
  
~You never seem to have a problem with us taking other innocent's hearts. What's so different about that girl?~  
  
'I don't know. And I never was exactly thrilled about what you're doing. But I guess the ends justifies the means.'  
  
~Of course it does. But for now, perhaps your attention should be on our friend the keyblade master.~  
  
"Huh." Riku said out loud as he heard the ladder in his cabin slam down into place.  
  
"They're coming." Shadow phased out, intent on watching the boy fight whatever heartless Riku would throw at him.  
  
"Shadow, delay him. Try not to kill him, just knock him and his friends out. We'll head for Hollow Bastion the quick way."  
  
Riku stood up with Kairi in his arms and headed for the door when he heard the heavy thumping of footsteps behind him. He turned and his eyes met with Sora's again.  
  
"Riku, wait!" Sora reached out for him, but Riku used as much darkness as he had left in him and let himself slip through a portal behind him. A second before he disappeared completely, he saw Shadow become visible, and draw his shadow keyblade.  
  
Riku felt lightheaded, but refused to give up his hold on Kairi. Transporting one person from one world all the way to another was difficult enough using just your own powers. He had to keep exerting more, but he couldn't feel the other end of the tunnel coming close. Just blackness, all around him, suffocating him. Letting out a choking sound, Riku fell forward, still feebly hanging on to the girl in his arms.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Bright light clouded his vision as his green eyes finally opened. He was kneeling down on cold hard ground. He was panting, and his body felt like someone had hit it with a truck.  
  
"You're incredible. But really, you shouldn't have risked bringing that girl all the way without a vessel."  
  
Something sharp suddenly stabbed inside him, as if someone had taken a knife to his stomach. Riku cried out and Maleficent took a step back, then looked on with concern.  
  
'Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.' Riku felt his eyes sting with tears as he curled up on himself, barely able to breath through the pain.  
  
'What's going on?' He cried out in his mind, as his mouth moved mutely, no sound coming out from his lungs, which felt as if they were slowly being squeezed inside him.  
  
~Something has happened to Shadow.~ For once, Ansem actually sounded concerned. Anger giving him strength, Riku stood up on his wobbly feet and tried to call Shadow to him, but he was in too much pain. Slowly, the pain began to fade, like it was being pushed away into the background, still there, but not nearly as bad. Riku tried to move his arm, but nothing happened.  
  
'I'm dying...'  
  
~No you're not. I just have control of your body. And therefore, you can't move, but neither can you feel pain.~  
  
This thought made Riku feel even sicker. But for now, all he cared about was his little lover.  
  
'Can you show me what's happening to Shadow?'  
  
~Of course. You used up all the darkness inside you on your way here, and then lost consciousness. If I had enough power to finish bringing you and Kairi here, a mere looking glass is of no problem to me.~  
  
Finding it very strange and unnerving, Riku watched as his hand moved without him and the darkness rose from the floor, creating a wall. It flickered into life and showed the inside of Captain Hook's cabin on the pirate ship. Quick movements ran across the screen, and battle cries rang out.  
  
Donald lay on one side of the cabin, with stars swimming around his head. He was obviously unconscious, and doing no one any good at the moment. Running past him the focus shifted to the dog, Goofy, he was barreling straight at Shadow.  
  
'Get out of the way!' Plunging his shield forward, Goofy ran straight through Shadow, leaving him a pile of black dust.  
  
'NO!!!'  
  
~Calm down Riku. That was one of Shadow's copies. Watch.~  
  
Focusing again on the image, he could see two Shadows nearby, both lunging towards a common target. Sora brought up his keyblade and blocked one of the Shadow keyblades, but the other hit home and he was sent backwards, to skid along the ground before getting up again. Looking closely, Riku could see the Shadow was wearing down. The real one was limping a bit as he dove out of the way of one of Sora's slashes. Something blacker than his usual color was dripping down Shadow's chest and was also making the blade of Sora's weapon shine.  
  
'Oh God...he's been hurt badly. We have to go help him.'  
  
~I can't Riku. There isn't enough power left between the two of us to go there and bring back Shadow.~  
  
Sora swept his blade to the side and another copy disintegrated. Turning, he set his sites on Shadow, who was standing with his blade at the ready.  
  
'If we don't help him, he'll be killed!'  
  
Sora jumped at him, slamming the blade down to where Shadow had been a split second earlier, but he had phased through the floor and had reappeared directly behind Sora. With a swift kick, he sent the keyblade master falling. But afterwards, it was Shadow who leaned onto his sword and gasped, as if he had been hit. His wounds were too bad, and his energy too low. Every attack he inflicted on Sora, drained him of what he had left as well.  
  
~If we try and save him, we'll all be killed.~  
  
With a twirl and a lot of power, Sora swung his blade forward. With a lot of effort, and a cry of pain, Shadow brought his own keyblade up to block the attack. The sheer force was enough to cause him to stumble back. Sora stepped forward...  
  
'Make him stop!!'  
  
.....Shadow tried to raise his sword....  
  
~I can't. He can't be controlled by darkness.~  
  
...Sora brought his keyblade up, level with Shadow's chest....  
  
'Then bring Shadow here, NOW!!'  
  
....Shadow couldn't get the block up in time....  
  
~It's too late.~  
  
.....and Sora thrust forward.  
  
'SHADOW!!!!'  
  
The blade buried itself in the dark boy's chest, but he made no sound. Only his mouth left gaping wide, and his amber eyes half closed. Riku could feel the far away pain in his chest again, and Ansem gasped from the intensity of it.  
  
Shadow pulled himself backwards, off of the now blackened keyblade. He stood for a moment, looking at the black blood that spilled out of him. Sora stood perfectly still, watching as the blood fell out of him. He had never seen a heartless bleed before. Donald and Goofy joined him, thinking the same thing as the pathetic looking creature struggled to stay standing.  
  
Riku couldn't think, couldn't speak. He watched as his lover's body slowly rose over the hard wood floor of the ship. Below him, his own blood was stirring, the pure darkness within him. His body lifted off the ground, but soon the blackness beneath him reached up with tendrils, wrapping around his legs and feet. Shadow began to panic, and he tried to move, but his body was stuck in that position. His arms stretched out and his legs tied together by the darkness. His head flung back in a silent scream as the darkness sucked him down.  
  
'NOO!!'  
  
The pool of blackness closed up, and Riku could no longer feel his connection with Shadow. The one he had since the day they had met. Gone. Gone.  
  
'Gone.'  
  
~Gone. And all because of Sora.~  
  
'I will kill you Sora.'  
  
~'You will not win.'~  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
hope you all liked it. Please review!! 


	8. Heads and tails

:::dodges evil glances and bottles that have been thrown at her::: I'm sorry people. Shadow was going to die no matter what, from the very beginning of the story. And sorry for this taking so long, many fics to update. ^_^ but at least this chapter is nice and big. The whole Kingdom Hearts thing still confuses me (all who have played the game know that they didn't explain much) so all the theories and stuff are from me. If they contradict each other, sorry, the story is about Riku, not about the laws of physics and darkness. Enjoy!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Riku could feel the cold stone on his forehead. He was on his knees, bent over, as if he was going to throw up. The pain still flared up in him, the feeling of his lover's death. Ansem had relinquished his hold on Riku's body and let the boy be alone for now.  
  
Gliding forward, the dark witch leaned down and spoke softly to the boy who was crying silently on her floor.  
  
"I'm sorry Riku. I know Shadow meant a lot to you."  
  
"Shut up you bitch. You don't know anything." Standing up, Riku's eyes flashed dangerously. Tears were still sitting in them, but he quickly wiped them away, and his face became as cold and hard as the rock beneath his feet. Looking down at himself, Riku realized his fists were clenched and there was a strange green mist around him.  
  
"You have incredible potential Riku. The darkness inside you is powerful."  
  
~She has no idea. A silly little marionette who can sense the strings, but knows nothing of the puppeteer.~  
  
'Are you doing this? This power.'  
  
"Release your inner power Riku. And you will be able to take your revenge on the keyblade master."  
  
Riku looked at the evil old woman, even as he spoke to her master, and the source of all the power that had attracted her to him in the first place.  
  
~This power is ours Riku. From being in this body with you, we have begun to share things. My control and power over the darkness is one of them. You just needed to accept it into your heart, and your rage helped out with that.~  
  
'I-I don't know.'  
  
~What don't you know?~ Ansem sounded confused.  
  
'I don't know if I want to kill Sora, or if you do.'  
  
Riku waited through the long pause, unsure of where Ansem had gone to.  
  
'Ansem!'  
  
~I'm here Riku. I was trying to see into your heart, to know who's desire that is. But....I can't.~  
  
Riku picked up the slight bit of malice in Ansem's voice. Just enough to show that there was more, hidden from where Riku could know of it.  
  
'We need to talk. In person.'  
  
~"Maleficent. Keep your eyes open for Sora. If he comes to the castle, make sure you come and find me."~  
  
Riku exited the woman's strange round chamber and was in the dank castle chapel. Tapping into the darkness, Riku opened up a portal beneath him. It was so different without Shadow. As his feet and legs went into the portal, Riku felt suddenly cold and more alone than ever. Fear gripped at him, the fear that he wouldn't know the way without Shadow.  
  
~It's okay Riku.~ To the frightened boy, the voice was alien but comforting. He was too afraid to realize who the voice belonged to, only that it was something to grab onto as the last inches of himself were sucked into the void.  
  
Closing his green eyes, Riku tried to focus, tried to picture where he was going. The center of the shadow world. He could sense the heartless scurry past him. Shadow was supposed to protect him from them.  
  
"Ah!" Riku cried out as he lost his concentration and began to fall through the endless obsidian. Giving into the depression that had been creeping around his mind all day, Riku lost consciousness.  
  
Silver hair obscured Riku's view as his eyes slowly opened. He could feel the cold ground beneath him and immediately made it a more pleasant temperature. He rolled over and sat up, staring into the black floor, into the eyes of his reflection.  
  
Someone else appeared in the reflection next to him, his long white hair trailing over his shoulder as he leaned over and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.  
  
"I truly am sorry for you Riku. If I had the power, I would bring Shadow back."  
  
Standing up, Riku gave Ansem a cold, calculating stare. Ansem stared back with bright orange eyes, never flinching towards the smaller boy.  
  
"Why couldn't I tell?"  
  
Ansem sighed and began to pace back and forth, looking majestic as his cape spread out behind him and his boots hit the ground, echoing around the world.  
  
"To tell you the truth Riku, I'm not sure."  
  
"You better figure it out then." Riku screamed at him and stood up, fury simmering behind his cool green eyes. At the boy's explosion, Ansem turned calmly towards him and approached.  
  
"Don't take your anger out on me, Riku. I didn't kill Shadow. Right now, I am the only friend you have."  
  
"Lucky me." The boy muttered.  
  
"Hmm." Ansem had suddenly stopped his pacing and stood holding his chin in his hands. His cold orange eyes swept over Riku's body, making the keyblade master suddenly feel uncomfortable.  
  
"Back off." Riku growled out as he walked backwards, his feet barely making a sound on the black ground.  
  
"I just need to see something. Don't be afraid."  
  
Considering the last part of the sentence, Riku was definitely afraid. He turned on his heel and began to run away when the solid floor turned to quick sand. He felt the same cold feeling the darkness always gave off as it climbed up to his knees, holding him in place.  
  
"Tsk tsk. Don't worry, this should tell us our answer." Riku felt a gloved hand come down softly onto his shoulder. He thrashed out at him with his arms, and managed to his in the stomach.  
  
The taller man took a step back from the wild boy, who was trying to claw at the darkness holding him in place. Ansem didn't like the idea that someone in his realm could do damage to him. It upset him.  
  
Riku could practically see the Darkness draining out of Ansem as it reared up from the floor. Snake like tendrils wrapped around Riku's wrists, and held them down at his sides. He tried to control them, try and force them away physically and with his power, but neither had any effect.  
  
"Shhh. Calm down dear boy." Riku felt those hands again, this time on both his shoulders. Ansem leaned down, and slowly his hands began to wrap around Riku's body, across his chest.  
  
"Let go!" Trying to free himself, Riku only managed to incite the darkness to crawl further up his limbs.  
  
Ansem's white gloved hands slid down over Riku's chest, softly searching, almost teasing. As he leaned over, Riku could see part of his tan face a shock of white hair on his shoulder.  
  
"You never had a problem with Shadow getting this close. Only me, huh Riku? I'm hurt."  
  
As the hands continued their slow trek across his chest, Riku began to squirm more and more. But Ansem soon stopped. Wondering if it had something to do with him, Riku looked down at where both of Ansem's hands had halted. It was directly over the left side of his chest.  
  
"Ah. There we are." Ansem's sharp fingers began to press against Riku's flesh and he thrashed harder than ever. The blackness became like steel, holding him perfectly in place as the older man forced his hands through cloth and slowly through skin. The darkness allowed him to, but didn't numb the sensation for Riku.  
  
Feeling the sharp points of his fingers dig into the muscle of his chest, Riku cried out. He could no longer silence himself as he screamed into the empty darkness. There was no Shadow to save him this time.  
  
~Of course not Riku. Your best friend killed him, remember.~  
  
The silver haired head fell onto his chest, his breath hitching in his throat as the hands pushed farther into his chest. Ansem grinned beside his face, and pressed himself closer to the boy. His lips were nearly touching Riku's ear, as his eager orange eyes watched his hands penetrate the boy's flesh.  
  
Riku began to pant, unable to scream, and only feeling the claw-like fingers digging deeper and deeper, straight for his heart. Ansem pressed his chest to Riku's back, and Riku could feel his breath quickening as well.  
  
With one final push, Riku gasped in pain and surprise as he felt Ansem touch his heart. His body went limp and leaned against Ansem's as the pain suddenly subsided. Feeling like a rag doll, Riku suddenly became aware of his own heartbeat. He could feel it pumping slowly through him, and saw Ansem's hands move the slightest bit every time his heart beat.  
  
"Can you feel it?" Ansem's voice was barely a whisper, hissed into Riku's ear. The silver haired boy shook his head. Pushing his head farther over the boy's shoulder, at an awkward angle, Ansem pressed his neck to Riku's. The slow thump of a heartbeat traveled through the noble's neck, and Riku could feel it through the sensitive skin of his neck. Both beats were the same.  
  
"W-Why?" Riku asked.  
  
"Shadow's death. You accepted your anger and hatred, all that is pure in the darkness, and in doing so, you accepted me into your heart." Ansem slowly slid his hands out of Riku's chest, his white gloves smeared with blood. The darkness released their hold of the boy's arms and legs, and a small bit pooled up on his chest, closing up the wound its master had inflicted.  
  
"Why am I not a heartless?"  
  
"Silly boy. Your heart is still with you. I am merely now a part of it." Extending a bloodied hand, Ansem lifted Riku's chin, meeting the boy's icy aqua eyes. "Your body is as much mine as it is yours now."  
  
"What if I don't feel like sharing?" He wrenched his head from the older man's grasp. Expecting him to be angry, Riku was surprised by the far away look that covered Ansem's orange eyes.  
  
"Maleficent is worried. Apparently the keyblade master's ship is approaching Hollow Bastion."  
  
Riku felt the hatred spread within him like a flame. Ansem just smirked and bowed, extended his hand to a dark portal that had opened in front of them. With a soft sigh, the apprentice entered the darkness, his master following close after. They emerged in the library of Hollow Bastion, a place Riku had come to be rather fond of.  
  
Maleficent stood there, her unhappy sneer in place.  
  
"I was wondering where you had gone."  
  
~She can sense something going on. Be sure not to clue her in until it's time.~  
  
'All that matters now is revenge for Shadow.'  
  
~'And retrieving Kairi's heart.'~  
  
"It was no where of importance to you."  
  
Riku walked down the curving staircase and followed through many rooms on his way to the entrance of the castle. Heartless shuddered as he passed, bowing low and scuttling away to hide in the shadows. He knew they sensed their master, residing quietly within the unlikely boy.  
  
Standing on the moving lift, Riku could see the strange waterfall that guarded both entrances into the castle, one by air and one by water. The strange lift landed, and Riku leapt onto a nearby platform.  
  
"Come on guys." A high voice exclaimed, the sound echoing up the falls. Riku smiled and leaned against a stone pillar, hiding from Sora and his foolish friends.  
  
A growl broke into Riku's reverie and he looked up to see a huge creature standing on one of the lower platforms. He was easily ten feet tall, and was pure muscle. A thick brown coat covered him from head to foot, and he gave the appearance of a werewolf. The only thing out of place was the regal purple cape trailing about the enormous beast's neck.  
  
"Amazing." Calling up Ansem from where he hid while in Riku's body, he searched the area and the creature itself. "You managed to come all the way here, from your own world, without a ship or using a portal."  
  
"I have come to save Belle. And I will not leave until she's safe."  
  
~He comes for a princess of hearts. But don't worry, he is weak and should be easy for you.~  
  
~'We have bigger fish to fry.'~  
  
"I'm sorry, but Belle likes it here." Riku smiled evilly as he extended his hand the dragon blade grew from it, forming into the purple and red curves that were it's namesake. The beast let out a snarl and leapt at him, his huge claws extended. Riku somersaulted in midair, striking the creature sharply on the head and sending him to the ground.  
  
"Pathetic."  
  
"Riku!"  
  
Turning towards Sora, Riku felt a sneer fly across his face. Here stood his lover's murderer.  
  
"Stop it Riku, please." Sora stood with the keyblade in hand, the duck and dog flanking him on both sides.  
  
"Hmm, where have I heard that before?" Riku tapped his finger against his chin, in false forgetfulness. Sora faltered, his sword dropping a little before he recovered from the shock.  
  
~Very nice touch. Make him suffer.~  
  
"Oh yeah. That was when the keyblade decided which of it's masters it would go to. But in all honesty, I think it was wrong."  
  
"Masters?" The duck quacked out.  
  
"That's right. Strange isn't it Sora, to have two keyblade masters come from the same little worthless island."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Sora said nervously. Riku held out his hand, and the keyblade dissolved from Sora's.  
  
"What?" He looked down into his empty hands, as the keyblade reemerged in Riku's.  
  
"Sorry Sora. Looks like you were just the messenger." Holding out the keyblade, Riku felt the power course into him. But it was different than the power of the darkness, it was more wild, and uncontrollable. Using the darkness in his other hand, he changed his precious dragon blade, which no longer held any value to the boy.  
  
"Why not play with this instead?" Riku threw the wooden sword at Sora's feet. The brunette looked dejectedly at it.  
  
"How...how could this happen?" He muttered to himself.  
  
"Uh, gawsh Sora. I'm sorry, but, uh, if Riku is the keyblade master now, we have to follow him." Goofy gave an apologetic look, but slowly followed after Riku, who now headed for the lift back to the castle.  
  
"Goodbye Sora." The duck quacked out sadly, and ran to catch up to his long legged friend.  
  
On the lift, Riku first became aware of the two animals following him.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"Our king told us to find the keyblade master and stay with him. And that's what we're doing." The duck crossed his wings in front of him and stood stubbornly in front of Riku.  
  
~"What king?"~  
  
Riku blinked as he realized that both he and Ansem had controlled his body at the same time. He shivered at the thought.  
  
"Uh, why, King Mickey of course." The dog laughed as if it was the most obvious piece of knowledge ever.  
  
~The rat.~  
  
'Huh? You know who they're talking about?'  
  
~You could say that.~  
  
Getting off of the lift, Riku strode into the castle and began up the stairs to where the library was, and heard the annoying slapping sound of webbed feet on his floor.  
  
"Why are you still here?" He snarled angrily back at them, holding the keyblade menacingly in front of them.  
  
"The king specifically told us not to let the keyblade master out of our sight."  
  
~"You can see your king if you'd like."~  
  
"Really?" Goofy jumped forward and took Riku's hands in his, shaking them up and down so hard that Riku was jerked with them.  
  
'Ansem, what are you playing at?'  
  
~You don't believe me? I know where their king is. I can show them, if you'll allow me.~  
  
'Funny. You didn't ask if I'd 'allow' you to speak through me.'  
  
~I didn't speak through you. We both spoke. I thought you'd come to realize that by now....~  
  
'Fine.'  
  
Riku extended his hands, before realizing he wasn't doing it all. Ansem slipped into control almost without Riku noticing. His body moved, but he did nothing. It was, almost comforting, to be able to sit back and relax.  
  
Ansem let his true dark powers flow directly into Riku's body and the boy could feel it seep into him as well. He felt calm, and cold, no emotions, no feelings. He could still vaguely see through his eyes, but it was becoming hazy, like it was out of focus. His body raised it's arms, and he could see black and red and purple on it.  
  
~What do you think?~  
  
'I would need to see the whole outfit.' Riku replied sleepily. He yawned, or, he thought he yawned. It was hard to tell in the state he was in. The body for sure, did not yawn. Ansem held it high and stately, and gazed down at the Duck standing before him.  
  
~"I know where your king is."~  
  
Everyone took a step back, although Riku was again confused as to whether he really moved.  
  
'What happened to my voice? I sound like I went through puberty again.'  
  
~It must be a strange effect of me being in your body. Don't worry, your voice will be the same when you are in control.~  
  
~'Wonderful.'~  
  
"Do you know where the king is?" The dog stepped forward and got too close to Ansem for comfort.  
  
~"Yes. Don't worry. He is safe."~ The deep voice, with it's soft and sweet overlying tone did little to give the two animals more reason to trust the boy.  
  
"How do we get to him?"  
  
~"Well, you'll have to find the door to the light."~ Sensing an approach, Riku whirled around. Deep in the recesses of his own being, Riku stirred at the familiar presence.  
  
~Here he comes.~  
  
'The idiotic beast is with him. Get rid of it and teach Sora a lesson. You have enough power.'  
  
~Of course I do.~  
  
A small Shadow heartless was called upon and Ansem gave it the appearance of the princess Belle. Placing her directly behind a large door that could easily be slammed shut, Ansem waited for the beast to turn around. When he finally did, his eyes went wide and he whispered the girl's name, but in a poof of smoke she returned to being a helpless heartless. In a rage the creature hurtled through the door, which Ansem quickly slammed shut on him.  
  
Sora spun around, looking at the heavy wooden door that now barred him from Beast, his newest friend. He heard someone approach and turned to see a figure dressed in blacks and purples. For a second, he had no clue who it was, this man who wore the crest of the heartless.  
  
The with a start he recognized the sea hued eyes and silver hair. But Riku's face seemed different somehow. Not his own, not an expression he would wear.  
  
"Riku, what are doing? Why?" Sora took a step forward, hoping to plead with Riku but the other keyblade master stepped back Raising his hand, Sora saw the keyblade appear in it.  
  
~"Because I am it's rightful owner."~ The odd voice proclaimed. Even to the true Riku, the voice was unnerving. And he was in his own body while it was being controlled by another; things would have to be pretty bad to unnerve him at this point.  
  
"But I brought the keyblade here. I fought with it. I sealed the keyholes."  
  
~"And who said you should? Who decided that any of the keyholes needed to be relocked? The heart is a weak thing Sora, you should have learned that lesson long ago."~ Riku's voice became dead and cold as he sneered at the boy across the room from him. Sora looked hurt, but raised his wooden sword in front of him, determined.  
  
"My heart may give in, and sure, it may be weak. But it's more than I need to stop you."  
  
Riku smirked and stepped forward, but the keyblade in his hands suddenly disappeared. The wooden sword he had made and thrown at the boy grew heavier in his hands and became the keyblade.  
  
'What happened?'  
  
~The boy is stronger than I suspected. I'm sure the princess' heart is helping that. Don't worry, we'll take care of him.~  
  
~"We'll see whose heart is stronger."~ Pulling his arm back, Riku gathered the darkness there and created a ball of pure dark energy. Throwing the full weight of his body forward, the energy hurled toward Sora, the pure power of it pushing Riku's body backwards, skidding along the floor.  
  
A sharp metallic sound rang through the chamber and the dark energy attack as flung upwards to the ceiling.  
  
~'What?!?'~  
  
The dog lowered his shield and smiled at Sora.  
  
"Sorry Goofy. I'm sticking with Sora. You'll have to just tell King Mickey I'm sorry when you see him." Sora beamed at his friend and then shifted his gaze to the duck at Riku's side.  
  
Again, everyone around Riku deserted him as the duck waddled over to Sora and stood in front of him with his arms crossed.  
  
"We'll tell him together Goofy."  
  
~"Why is this happening now?"~ Riku muttered, he and Ansem shaking their head, trying to clear their thoughts and separate them from each other's.  
  
'We can still win. Concentrate Riku. It's up to you.' Riku could feel himself regaining control over his body, slowly but surely. His arm moved a bit, and he could twist his head so he could see Sora face on.  
  
Bringing his dark gloved hands together, Riku used Ansem to pour the darkness into his hands, and his own power to form it. A solid, black sword materialized in Riku's hands. It's handle was red, the blade itself black as the dark world the heartless came from. The tip was like a key, but was sharp a thin, a weapon unto itself. Riku grinned evilly at Sora.  
  
~'Now we'll have an even fight.'~  
  
~"Well Sora, I thought you'd like to see my keyblade as well."~ Giving it a test, Riku swung the key back and forth, testing it's weight and the hold he wasn't used to.  
  
"How can you have one too?"  
  
'He's got a point.'  
  
~There are always more than one keyblade master.~  
  
'You know more than you're letting on.'  
  
~Perhaps.~  
  
~"Of course Sora, my keyblade has a few more, interesting, abilities than yours."~  
  
'What abilities? You better clue me in on this soon Ansem.'  
  
~"The ability to unlock people's hearts."~ Riku's body had a strange moment of confusing, not quite controlled by either of the men inside. A half sneer, which slowly faded into confusion, caused the boy in black to look ridiculous for a split second. Sora noticed this, and had never once known Riku to not be in control of his situation, to ever lose his cool.  
  
"Riku...."  
  
~"You will not stop me Sora. My plans will not fail now, after I've come so far."~ Riku felt Ansem take more complete control and he rushed forward, heading directly towards Sora. The younger keyblade master held up the pumpkinhead form of the blade which he held, and blocked Riku's sideswipe. Then the silver haired boy took his hand, which was eerily glowing white and purple and slammed it into the floor.  
  
Goofy, Donald, and Sora were thrown into the air by the blast of darkness which shook the floor like an earthquake. Riku laughed softly and rushed at Sora once again, but was stopped by a thunder spell.  
  
'I hate that duck.'  
  
Turning to Donald, Riku charged and slashed down on his head with the black keyblade. The duck fell down and no longer seemed a threat, so Riku slowly stalked towards Goofy. The dog shook visibly with fear at the site of Riku's bloodthirsty grin as he approached, very slowly. Goofy held his shield up higher and called out to Sora, hoping for some help.  
  
The second he did and let his guard down, Riku rushed forward, slashing at the shield, instead of at the dog himself. His momentum carried him past Goofy, who was in the middle of regaining his balance, and directly to his unprotected back. The dark keyblade slashed across the tall creature's back, and he too fell down, his body too weak to try and heave itself back into the fray.  
  
Riku barely registered the person approaching behind him before he felt a hard strike on one side. His body was thrown across the circular room and slammed against one of the marble columns.  
  
'Ouch.'  
  
~You can't even feel the pain.~  
  
'Yeah, but I know that had to hurt. It made a crunching noise.'  
  
Riku stood up and shook his head to clear it, and barely managed to bring his dark keyblade up to block Sora's attack. Their eyes met, and Sora saw no recognition, no friendly glance, only cold icy eyes.  
  
Pushing with all his strength, Riku forced Sora back and the brunette leapt out of his reach, keeping a safe distance from his dangerous opponent. But he didn't realize just how much more powerful Riku was, now that Ansem was in control of his body. Leaping up into the air, Riku aimed his keyblade directly at Sora and plummeted towards him. The dark power surged into the black and red blade, and as it hit Sora's upheld keyblade, the two ricocheted off each other.  
  
Sora took advantage of the moment and rushed forward, his keyblade slamming Riku directly in the stomach. Ansem screamed out in Riku's mind as the white hot burning of the keyblade scorched across his skin.  
  
'What happened?'  
  
~I cannot touch the keyblade. It can destroy the darkness.~ Riku felt the cold blade in his hand, and the pain of the blow to his stomach and realized that he was controlling his body again.  
  
"Not now." Sora walked directly towards the boy, but his weapon was at his side.  
  
"Get back." Riku sent a wave of darkness through the floor, tearing up the stone as it cracked the floor in two and raced towards Sora. Unable to avoid it, he was flung to the ground, and had to watch as Riku stood and stepped backwards into a portal of darkness which had emerged behind him. But for a moment, just the barest of moments, the eyes had been Riku's again.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The next update won't be long, cause I just beat this part of the game, so I'm ready to write about it. (I'm playing through again on expert so I don't miss too many of the lines and screw up the order.) Leave a review if you liked it. ^_^ or if you didn't, just as long as you leave a review. 


	9. Falling

'What are you doing to me?' Riku fell to the floor in the main chamber of Hollow Bastion, his whole body shuddering.  
  
~We wanted to kill Sora. So we tried our best.~  
  
'You wanted to kill Sora.'  
  
~He killed your lover. Are you saying you don't carry any malice towards him.~  
  
'Of course I do. But we've taught him his lesson now. It's enough. We don't have to kill him.'  
  
~But you want to. Accept it already Riku.~  
  
"Never."  
  
"Never what boy?" Maleficent strode across the room, but stood with her arms crossed over her chest and did not offer any comfort to the boy who was shaking on the floor.  
  
~"It doesn't matter. Where is the keyblade master?"~  
  
"On his way here. The castle's forces are slowing him down, but none of them are strong enough to stop him completely." She smirked down at Riku as she spoke to him. "Do you need some help dealing with him?"  
  
~"No, but if it would please you, try your hand at the keyblade master and his friends."~  
  
With an icy smile, the woman glided away, leaving Riku with only Ansem for company. His arm moved without him, and he sunk slowly into the darkness beneath him. When his feet hit the dark ground, Riku looked at himself and saw his familiar yellow shirt and blue pants.  
  
White gloved hands slid from his shoulders down over his chest, and Riku flicked his eyes to the side and was met with a cold orange glare.  
  
"You sure seem to get angry at me a lot lately Riku. And over such silly little things. I know someone else who tried to kill Sora, and you had no problem with that......"  
  
Riku felt his heart seem to slow down. It was like he couldn't feel it anymore, like there was no feeling in his body whatsoever. The he saw two black hands trail up from his chest and along his neck. The hands had on gloves, and Riku leaned towards the hand that began to caress one side of his face.  
  
"Come on Ku, you need to relax." The happy voice came from behind him, and he felt spiky hair brush against the back of his neck, making him shiver.  
  
When the hands on his face turned him around, Riku was face to face with Shadow. The dark boy smiled cheerily and his yellow eyes shined brightly against the dark background of the shadow world.  
  
"Shadow?" Riku reached out with his hands and felt the warm flesh in front of him. Shadow laughed and then flung his arms around him, letting Riku pull him into a tight hug.  
  
"Gee Ku, you act like it's been years or something?"  
  
Riku's teal eyes met with Shadow's and his hand firmly grasped the back of the boy's neck, pulling him against him. Shadow turned his head and opened his mouth, impatiently bringing Riku into the kiss. He complied and gently began to massage Shadow's tongue with his. The lips were soft and silky, same as the rest of him.  
  
'Tastes....like....nothing.'  
  
Riku pulled away from the kiss, leaving a breathless Shadow still leaning towards him. In a split second, Riku's hand slapped across Shadow's face. The boy prayed that Shadow would yell at him, curse him, or make some quip. Instead, another face melted out of the darkness that made up Shadow.  
  
"Your hits didn't seem so hard when I was in your body with you." Ansem ran a hand through his long white hair and looked down at the silver haired boy, with an almost betrayed look on his face.  
  
"Damn you."  
  
"How did you know it was me? I thought the illusion was quite complete."  
  
Riku spit at the ground and Ansem looked at him disdainfully. "You taste terrible. Shadow tasted like salt water and tropical fruits."  
  
Ansem let a finger trail around his mouth as he gave Riku a sensual look. "I don't mind telling you, I quite liked the way you tasted." The nobleman tried to approach Riku, but the anger in his eyes told him that he was treading on thin ice.  
  
"I don't want you in my body anymore. Ever. Let's go and get Kairi her heart back, so you can have your own body."  
  
Ansem bowed, his cape swirling gracefully behind him.  
  
"As you command."  
  
Riku opened his eyes and was back in his own body, standing in the center of the room, directly in front of the final keyhole.  
  
~Apparently your friend has been giving the pathetic witch a run for her money. She is almost completely emptied of dark power. Shall we?~  
  
'Fine, it should be entertaining to watch.'  
  
Riku walked forward and reemerged a large circular room that was Maleficent's own private room. Huge thorny rose vines grew around the outside, and sealed everything in. The woman herself was struggling across the floor, panting and grabbing at her chest.  
  
~"Do you need some help?"~ Riku sneered. For the first time, he saw fear plain as day in the old woman's eyes.  
  
"Riku!"  
  
~Your friend is here.~  
  
"Riku why are you doing this?"  
  
~"I am doing this to save us."~  
  
"Us?" Sora looked at his childhood best friend as if he were a stranger.  
  
Holding out his hand, the black and red keyblade formed in his hand. He smiled and took a step backwards, keeping his eyes locked with Sora's as he approached the weakened Maleficent.  
  
"This keyblade can unlock people's hearts, and it can unleash," Riku turned and plunged the sharp tip of the keyblade deep into Maleficent's heart. She gasped and made a choking sound, just like Riku had down when Ansem dug his fingers into his chest. "The true dark power within!"  
  
Pulling hard on the hilt, the dark keyblade came out of Maleficent's heart with a sickening wet sound. Then she raised her head, and green mist began to swirl around her. Her powers rose and Riku stepped backwards through a portal Ansem had conveniently created for them.  
  
Expecting Hollow Bastion, Riku found himself confused as he looked around at the barren shadow world.  
  
"Why did you bring us here?"  
  
"Because my dear Riku, I tire of this." Ansem extended his arm and a thick coil of darkness shot out of his hand and wrapped around Riku's neck.  
  
He began to claw at it, trying to get the strangling darkness off of him any way he could. Riku felt his lungs burn. Felt his chest heave and try to breathe.  
  
"I really thought we could work this out. That you would accept me and that we could work together. But now you're just becoming more and more rebellious. You didn't want to give Maleficent her true power, because of your feelings for that boy." Ansem hissed out the words and suddenly more dark ropes erupted from the ground and snatched at parts of Riku, holding him in place.  
  
"Don't worry, as soon as I get Kairi's heart from within Sora, we can work this out."  
  
Ansem's boots hitting the black ground was the only sound that echoed through the world, as he walked directly up to Riku. Leaning down, his long white hair spilled over his should and brushed against Riku, causing the boy to try and shrink away. The older man moved sharply forward, pressing his lips against Riku's for an instant, before turning on his heel and stepping into a portal.  
  
The darkness faded and fell apart around him, and immediately Riku tried to call forth a portal, to reclaim his body from the thief named Ansem. But all he could do was make a small ripple on the floor. Ansem had left him completely powerless here, except what he had within himself.  
  
"ANSEM!" His voiced screamed back at him over and over as it bounced around the void.  
  
Riku bent down and got on his knees, pressing his palms to the floor. 'Come on.' Using every bit of concentration he had, Riku forced the darkness inside him into the floor, and slowly an image flickered there. For a second he thought it hadn't worked, before he realized that the large portion of blackness that was moving across the screen was actually Maleficent's most powerful form. The dark dragon opened it's mouth, showing it's terribly long fangs and spat out a plume of green flame.  
  
Somewhere in the cloud of fire and smoke, three figures leapt at the overbearing creature and began to attack. Sora, Donald, and Goofy refused to be beaten or discouraged, even by so huge a creature.  
  
It was then that Riku realized that he couldn't stand seeing Sora hurt. And especially knowing that it was his fault. He wanted to help him. Wanted to save him.  
  
Riku realized all the times that he had tried to hurt Sora, sent heartless after him, and almost killed him. He felt ill and had to keep from throwing up right then and there.  
  
He watched Sora attack and eventually defeat Maleficent. And then he vaguely felt something. It was the weird feel that always came with traveling through the darkness. Even with Ansem in complete control, he could vaguely feel his body's movement. And he could see himself in the dark mirror, pressing his foot in the spot where Maleficent had been destroyed.  
  
"Her greed for the darkness was her downfall. She was a mere puppet for me. Just like Riku." Then his body slipped through a portal again, but Riku couldn't see where it had gone.  
  
He had heard footsteps approaching.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
His aqua eyes squinted through the darkness, and could barely see a figure walking towards him, bent forward in an aggressive way. For a moment he thought it was Ansem, and at this fleeting thought the darkness on the ground showed him where Ansem had reappeared. Riku saw his body, clad in black and red and purple sitting on a pipe in the main hall of Hollow Bastion. He was holding the dark keyblade, and swinging it idly, his eyes trained on the entrance to the main hall.  
  
"He will have that worthless boy's heart." A voice sneered nearby, and Riku reached up and clutched at his throat, knowing that it was his voice that had called out.  
  
A sharp whistle rang out and echoed in the darkness, and finally Riku's head snapped up and saw bright yellow eyes staring down at him. But they were different than Shadow's. Thinner, and more angled. And it's hair was longer and hung down instead of out in all directions. His clothes were all in shades of blacks and purples, and his skin was the same shade as the world around him.  
  
"Very funny Ansem. These games are really starting to piss me off." Riku shouted into the oblivion, and his dark reflection just laughed at him.  
  
"What makes you think Ansem has anything to do with me?"  
  
Riku's eyes flicked back to the mirror on the floor, and saw that his body was still sitting there, which meant Ansem wasn't in the shadow world at the moment. He stood up and gave the dark version of himself a good looking over.  
  
"So if you weren't sent by Ansem, then what are you?"  
  
"Same thing as Shadow. But...let's just say tweaked a bit."  
  
Riku was quickly becoming annoyed by this smirking teenager and turned from him, to look at what was happening in Hollow Bastion. He could see that Sora and his party had finally reached the main hall, and were rushing up the stairs. Able to see everything, Riku caught the slight hand movement of his own body, which sent up a force field around the entrance to the keyhole, hurling back Goofy as he tried to follow Donald and Sora.  
  
The only reason Riku took his eyes off of the floor was that he felt an odd prodding in the middle of his back. The feeling trailed up his back and over his right shoulder, where he could see the sharp curve of the dragon blade, only this one was pitch black.  
  
"Care to dance?" Riku spun and managed to form his dragon blade in time to block the overhead slash that came from the dark version of himself. Riku felt himself stumble back a step, having called out the sword using only his own power had left him feeling drained.  
  
The dark Riku leapt backwards, before rushing at him again. His blade was deflected and a well-placed foot sent him sprawling to the hard ground. He landed on top of the image on the dark floor, and that image caught Riku's attention for a second before his opponent regained himself.  
  
Sora was yelling to Ansem, and the only part Riku caught before his battle continued was "Give Riku back his heart."  
  
So Sora realized that he wasn't in control. Riku smiled and parried another blow of his counterpart, feeling the guilt on his mind lessened, even if for only a moment.  
  
"That Sora really is a cutie isn't he?"  
  
Riku lashed out and managed to connect with the dark boy's thigh, leaving a tear in his pants that just barely missed carving into his flesh. He grinned a black smile at him before continuing their duel, lunging and blocking as the two alternately gained and lost ground to each other.  
  
Pushing the other version of himself away physically, Riku took the brief moment to look at the ground, and see what was happening. Another battle was being commenced in that world, between a third Riku and Sora. 'There are getting to be way too many of me around here.'  
  
As Sora struck out at Ansem and connected, Riku felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as the curve of the dark dragon blade grazed his skin. Deciding that his own fight was a bit more important to pay attention to at the moment, he ran full tilt at the dark Riku and began to slash at him like his life depended on it.  
  
Had he been paying more attention to what was happening in the dark mirror, Riku would have seen Ansem defeated by Sora, and slinking away through the darkness. He also would have seen Sora selflessly impale himself on Ansem's forgotten dark keyblade, and therefore release his and Kairi's hearts.  
  
Riku and his dark self clashed again, but both suddenly lost interest in each other when a body fell directly on top of them both. Riku managed to climb to his knees first and rubbed his now throbbing head. As he looked down, he saw a mass of body and limbs trying to separate from each other on the floor. One of them was wearing a red jumpsuit.  
  
Bringing the dragon blade threateningly against the back of the shadow's neck, Riku allowed Sora to climb to his feet. As soon as he had, he looked around and recognized the horrific shadow world he had only been in once before. The brunette's whole body shook from the memory. Then his bright sapphire eyes turned and met with Riku's.  
  
"Riku...." He barely whispered, as if anything louder would cause the illusion to blow away like sand. But for the first time since they had left Destiny Island, Sora saw the same Riku behind the green eyes and couldn't help but throw himself forward and into his embrace.  
  
Riku welcomed the feel of his best friend against him, and the time he's spent with he and Ansem beginning to meld together seemed like a faraway dream. Then he looked over Sora's shoulder, half obscured by the spiky brown hair, and saw the dark version of himself standing up and holding out his dark sword.  
  
Sora stood back, disbelief still clinging to his bright eyes even as he was thrown away from Riku as the boy picked up the fight he had begun. The two dragon blades clashed as each Riku tried to gain any sort of advantage on the other. Then the dark one turned and looked at Sora, a bit of surprise in his dark face.  
  
Sora's breath seemed to have suddenly run out. It was like being underwater, and being unable to suck in the air that your body was crying out for. The yellow eyes bore into his, and then that sickly grin came to the dark Riku's face. The keyblade master began to shake and fell to his knees, but never broke eye contact.  
  
"Sora, get up!"  
  
"No, stay down. You always did look better from above."  
  
Riku didn't like where the conversation had abruptly headed and lunged for the dark boy's throat. He parried and the two danced again, briefly forgetting about the boy who sat on the floor shuddering. Everything seemed to happen so fast that Riku wasn't sure what had happened, just that his opponent was laying on the floor, holding his stomach.  
  
Sora was panting, now that his lungs finally decided to work again, and he was holding a keyblade that dripped with something dark. His shoulder was touching Riku's, and the silver haired boy knew that Sora remembered everything that happened when they first came to the shadow world. He had done well convincing himself that it wasn't real, but seeing the dark Riku in person had done him in.  
  
Riku watched his darker self struggle and finally stand, black blood seeping from the stab wound in his stomach. He still held his weapon in the hand that was covering his injury, and held it in front of him. His face was screwed up in pain, but he still managed to sneer over to Sora.  
  
"All you've been is trouble. I should have killed you after I raped you." Even as he finished his last words, Riku's dragon blade sliced through his throat. His yellow eyes widened in surprise as his body fell to the floor and the darkness sucked it through.  
  
The whole world was silent except for the steady dripping of black blood from both keyblade master's weapons. Riku let the dragon blade disappear, and walked back to where Sora was standing, still looking at the spot where the dark thing's body had been sucked down.  
  
"Sora? You okay?"  
  
He nodded, a halfhearted movement that told almost as much as his blank blue eyes. Riku walked over and sat down next to Sora, giving them at least a foot of space between them. Sora's eyes flicked up and seemed to accept Riku.  
  
"Sora....hey!" Riku shouted and Sora's whole body jerked. He looked up at him, and slowly smiled.  
  
"Sorry. I just...didn't realize it had been real. Or that..."  
  
"That it wasn't me who did it."  
  
Sora nodded and leaned back, getting into a more comfortable position, sitting cross legged next to his best friend. After a few awkward moments the keyblade master scooted over and leaned his head on his best friend's shoulder.  
  
Riku wasn't entirely sure what to do. Sora had been through a lot, and he knew that he couldn't have known at times whether Riku was really himself or not. He gently moved his arm up and let it rest lightly on Sora's back. The smaller boy seemed not to mind and leaned farther into Riku, his spiky brown hair tickling Riku's neck.  
  
"I missed you a lot Riku." He mumbled into the shirt his face was pressed against. Riku squirmed a bit, shifting back and forth, and unable to find a place for his arm to go. Sora had no such problem, and wrapped his arms around Riku in a half tackle, sending the two rolling.  
  
Habit took over, and Riku rolled over so that Sora was laying beneath him, his hands pressing down the boy's shoulders. The two laughed, until Riku realized exactly what type of position they were in. He quickly let go and rolled back onto his knees, trying to look casual about it.  
  
"Riku, I'm glad I found you again." Sora sat up and crawled on his knees over to Riku. The older boy was beginning to feel a little too warm and tried to find something to change the subject to.  
  
"Uh....you know, we really should-" Whatever he was about to ramble about was cut off as Sora pressed his lips firmly against Riku's. As first kisses between friends go, it could have been worse. Riku closed his eyes and brought his hand up to the back of Sora's neck, pressing his lips closer.  
  
Sora let himself relax against Riku and leaned over onto him, opening his mouth and tasting his best friend. Sora's tongue moved all on it's own, brushing against Riku's teeth, tentatively touching the other's tongue as the two boy's sat on the cold dark floor.  
  
Riku remembered Shadow for a moment, and realized that he was wrong. Sora didn't taste like sand and fresh sea air. He tasted like Sora. There was no describing it. Riku's partially gloved hands began to slide down across Sora's shoulder, then down onto his chest. Sora shivered but pressed against the soft hands that were trailing across the muscles on his chest.  
  
After a few second of remembering exactly where it was, Riku found the zipper to Sora's jumpsuit and slowly tugged it down. Sora complied and leaned back, allowing Riku to easier take down the jumpsuit. Again the brunette had his back to the dark ground, with his childhood friend on top of him.  
  
Riku slid out his tongue and licked along Sora's neck, feeling the vibration there as the keyblade master groaned. Then Riku skipped down and began to kiss Sora's chest, right above his stomach. Gently Sora's hands found there way into his long silver hair and began to comb through it, softly pressing the mouth harder against his chest.  
  
"Sora!"  
  
Both boys stopped and shot up at the high feminine voice. Sora panicked and thought he'd been caught, quickly zipping up his jumpsuit and leaping to his feet. Riku had a better idea of what was going on and looked towards the floor where he could still see the events going on in Hollow Bastion.  
  
"Kairi's awake." He said quietly. A small smile tugged at the boy's lips. Until he remembered exactly what that meant.  
  
"Oh no. I have to save her."  
  
Sora reached out and caught Riku's wrist before the boy managed to get away.  
  
"Take me with you."  
  
Using all the energy he could muster, Riku created a portal through the darkness, but he knew it was too weak to send him directly to his body. Ansem had taken all his power with him, and Riku snarled in anger.  
  
Not quite sure what was going to happen, but knowing that he and Sora would go together, Riku stepped into the black portal. The warmth of Sora's hand disappeared from his wrist, and Riku felt lightheaded. He could almost feel his body, it was much closer now.  
  
Concentrating, Riku tried to force himself back into control of his own body, sensing Ansem's presence and heading for it.  
  
"What...is this?" Ansem said, stopping dead in his tracks. Kairi looked at him in fear as Donald and Goofy tried to pull her away.  
  
"Come on Kairi, we gotta get outta here." Goofy yelled and pulled her towards the staircase.  
  
Riku didn't realize that he had his eyes closed until he opened them. He could see Ansem. The way he had always appeared in the shadow world. His true body.  
  
'Except that it's not yours. It's mine.'  
  
"Riku?" Kairi said hopefully. Riku turned around and met Kairi's soft scared eyes. 'She can see me?'  
  
"Run Kairi!" Doing his best, Riku placed himself in front of Ansem and fought with him for control of his body.  
  
"But Riku..."  
  
Ansem was beginning to gain control again and Riku could feel himself being pulled back to the shadow world, slowly.  
  
"Get out of here Kairi!" He screamed at the girl, and finally she turned and ran away.  
  
"You will pay for that dearly."  
  
Riku's energy finally ran out and he felt himself lose consciousness and fall through darkness. Only then did he question where Sora had gone.  
  
'He'll do it. He'll save us both.'  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Wow. I haven't updated in forever. :::bows::: sorry faithful readers. But as you can see, this chapter is rather long. ^_^ only one more, so prepare yourselves for the finale of Darkside. If you've played the game all the way through, then you know what's going to happen, but stay tuned to see my twist on it. Thanks again for sticking with me. The last chapter won't take as long as this one did. 


	10. Cut the Strings

This chapter took forever. Sorry. I don't really understand everything about Kingdom Hearts, so I just made up stuff that I needed for this ending to work. I am sure I contradict myself and the game many times, and I don't care. I hope you all enjoy the end of Darkside, and there is a good chance I will write a sequel, but only after I play the sequel games so that my story stays accurate. Please leave a review, even if you reviewed on other chapters so I know how you liked the entire story. Thanks for sticking with me.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
As Riku fell through the darkness he had grown so close to, he felt like those memories were being stripped away. The times he spent with Shadow, learning what the darkness could do...  
  
He hit the hard floor of the shadow world with such speed that he was tossed away, rolling and banging into the ground. When his body came to a stop, he pulled himself up on his hands and knees and pressed his hands to the floor.  
  
The thought that he had shared his body with Ansem, that they had used the darkness together, flashed into his mind. Riku tried to clear his mind, and focus the power he had left on the dark mirror. It eventually complied and showed him Hollow Bastion once again. Goofy and Donald were standing near Kairi, and the three were surrounded on all sides by Shadow heartless.  
  
Riku's sharp eyes picked out one though, that wasn't moving like the others. It wasn't leaping forward, ready to attack. And it was standing behind Kairi, as if she was protecting it.  
  
"Sora?" Riku whispered.  
  
In a blinding light, the small heartless was replaced by Sora. Riku watched as his two best friends embraced, finally reunited. Without him. His eyes swept over the dark world, unsure of how he was ever going to get back to the real world, and be with his friends and have the adventure they had always dreamed of.  
  
An icy hand touched Riku's back, and the boy started and leapt straight up, putting up his fists just in case. Ansem stood regally in front of him, arms straight at his sides and his head held high. Riku felt something tighten in his chest as his eyes locked with Ansem's.  
  
"Why have you done all this?" The boy hissed out the question, all his muscles remaining tensed and ready for battle at any moment.  
  
"Why, to take over the world of course." Ansem's white teeth grinned at Riku through the darkness that seemed to thicken and close around him. "You see boy, my plan was never to regain my own body, it is gone forever. Turned into some useless heartless somewhere. But now, I have your body."  
  
With a flick of his raised wrist, the thickening dark mist that was slowly circling both of them hardened and attacked Riku. He formed the dragon blade and managed to slice through one of the long black ropes but wasn't quick enough to stop them all.  
  
One thick tendril wrapped around his waist, anchoring him in place. Two others latched onto his wrists and pulled them down to his sides, the dragon blade useless in his immobile hand. The very ground underneath each of his feet oozed up around his legs and turned everything below his knees hard as stone.  
  
"Let me go you bastard." Riku ground out, even as he struggled against his bonds.  
  
Ansem strode forward, the dark mist retreating from him, like a beaten dog from its master. When he reached Riku, he reached out a white-gloved hand and pressed his finger against Riku's left breast, directly over his heart.  
  
Riku's whole body twitched with pain as his heart began to burn, his pulse quickening as he felt Ansem controlling him. Then the pain stopped and all that was left to Riku was the soft touch of one of Ansem's fingers, tracing it's way across his chest.  
  
Ansem circled like a lion, preparing for the kill, seizing up his prey. But unlike a lion, Ansem's prey couldn't get away. Treading silently on the dark ground, Ansem circled around to Riku's back, letting his hand rest on the boy's shoulder. Taking advantage of the moment, Riku flung his head to the side and snapped at Ansem's hand, biting deep into the nearest fingers.  
  
Ansem pulled back in pain and his eyes flash angrily.  
  
"Not a smart move boy. I was considering keeping you around, to play with after I've conquered the world. But now, I'll have to send you to the deepest pits of darkness."  
  
Ansem grabbed the sides of Riku's neck and held tightly, causing the boy to gag and his mouth to hang open. Something heavy replaced Ansem's hands and Riku could feel a heavy chain wrapped around his neck, the links shifting as the man behind him pulled on them, testing out its strength. To the boy's surprise, the black coils around his wrists and waist dissolved into nothing, and his legs were released.  
  
Swinging the dragon blade up over his head, Riku prepared to lunge at Ansem, intending to chop him in half. Before his blade even began it's downward arc, Riku was thrown forward, landing painfully on his belly and the dragon blade slid across the floor out of his reach. It quietly melded back into the darkness it was made from.  
  
With another swift jerk, Ansem brought Riku's neck painfully back, arching his body against the floor.  
  
"Please Riku, don't be so clumsy." Ansem's overly sweet voice patronized the boy who meanwhile was clambering to his feet. As soon as he was half way between crouching and standing, Ansem pulled on the chain again, sending Riku right into his arms.  
  
"That's more like it." He sneered.  
  
"Get off of me." Riku tried to pull away, punching at Ansem, but again he felt the constriction on his throat as Ansem pulled on the chain from behind him. A strong arm wrapped around Riku, holding him tight against Ansem's body as the noblemen held the chain chokingly tight.  
  
Riku's eyes began to water, he couldn't breath, his mind was starting to become hazy and he felt tired. His hands stopped clawing at the chain that was cutting off his air, and he saw Ansem's grin as his knees gave out, and he fell completely into the other man's embrace.  
  
Riku was turned around, and the chain was loosened. Now the heavy metal hung around his neck like a necklace. 'Sora. It looks just like yours.'  
  
"Insolent boy." Ansem shouted from behind him. Riku just grinned and began to picture he and Sora kissing, and the way he had softly licked at the smaller keyblade master's chest. He could swear he could hear Ansem growling in jealousy as he saw the images clearly projected on Riku's mind.  
  
"So Ansem, does the thought of us turn you on? Is that why you brought the two of us here in the first place, and did that to us." Though Riku's words were angry, he still grinned back at the man holding him from behind.  
  
"I brought you because I need a keyblade master's body. Had I not sent the rat away, I could have done all of this without you."  
  
With a quick surge of concentration, Riku managed to penetrate Ansem's mind, and saw everything explained in flashes of memory. An image of King Mickey, wielding a silver and gold keyblade. Ansem, kinder, gentler, and without the insignia of the heartless on his chest. The images flashed quickly, time passed and heartless appeared, surrounding Hollow Bastion and taking its people as Ansem watched helplessly. The last image that Riku was able to see before Ansem forced him from his mind was of some dark creature, enormous and powerful, somehow connected to Ansem as the white haired man flung King Mickey through a dark portal.  
  
Ansem let go of Riku just long enough to grab his wrists and twist them behind him. Riku yelped in pain as his arms were forced to far, and he squinted as his captor held them there. A sickeningly smooth feeling began to cover Riku's hands, as Ansem sealed them both completely in darkness.  
  
A shiver went through the silver haired boy as he felt a mouth next to his ear, and he tried to shy away from the hot air as the man spoke.  
  
"Good thing Sora is a keyblade master as well. I don't think you'll be up for helping me release the ultimate darkness when I'm through with you." The voice hissed in his air, and a warm tongue reached out and caressed Riku's ear.  
  
'No.' His teal eyes went wide as Ansem abruptly shoved him to his knees on the hard floor.  
  
"Sorry, that is not the right answer." With a soft fluttering of his cape, Ansem fell to his knees behind Riku, settling his weight over the boy's calves, trapping him in the position he was kneeling in.  
  
The man's long strong arms wrapped around Riku, and he brought his lips softly to his neck, where the chain had left painful red bruises. Riku shuddered and tried to pull away from the kisses on his neck, but Ansem's grip around him was too strong.  
  
"Fickle boy." With his pride injured, Ansem had seemed to turn into a whole new person. He was no longer the strong and ever-confident king, his orange eyes had a wild look in them. In anger he yanked on the chain again, causing Riku's head to jerk backwards, just enough that he could see the white hair on the top of Ansem's head.  
  
Still holding the chain tightly, the older man leaned forward and used his other hand to angle Riku's head just the slightest bit, before plunging into his mouth. Riku gagged on the tongue that was so forcefully introduced to his mouth, and would have bitten it off save for the fact that Ansem was prying his mouth open at the moment.  
  
The tongue swirled and slithered against his own, pressing down on it and lavishing it with touches. The chain had slackened, and Riku tore his mouth from Ansem's hold and gasped in the air that his burning lungs craved. He hung his head forward, his silver hair shielding his face from the man behind him. As his breathing slowed down, now that he had caught his breath, Riku's eyes focused on a movement from just outside his ring of hair.  
  
A white gloved slowly trailed up Riku's chest, zigzagging its way around, pressing hard enough to hold Riku's attention. It continued on its path until it reached the top of his shirt, gently running across his neck for a second before resting on the top of his shirt.  
  
There was a smooth sound as a black blade formed in Ansem's hand, a small blade. He swiped it down and Riku cried out, his body flinging backwards as the tip of the knife sliced through his skin. His shirt was abruptly ripped off of him and he could see a line of red along his chest were the blade had just barely skimmed his skin.  
  
Ansem trailed a finger across the cut, smearing blood onto the rest of Riku's chest before pulling back his hand. The chain was not tight at all anymore and Riku tried to get away, ending up about four feet from Ansem before the chain caught in the older man's hands.  
  
Their eyes met and Ansem slowly, deliberately raised his finger to his lips, the rosy drop of blood sitting on the top, before slipping it into his mouth. Riku closed his aqua eyes and tried to focus on the darkness, at least enough to free himself.  
  
"Why do you have to be so troublesome?" Ansem said patronizingly. He stood up and yanked hard on the chain, trying to pull Riku to him again. But as he did so, the heavy collar clanked on the ground at his feet, the back of it melted off. The dark covers on Riku's hands fell off and slipped into the darkness of the world as well.  
  
Riku stood up panting. His body was still in pain from the gash on his chest, and now he had used up almost all his remaining energy to free himself. And there was still Ansem to deal with.  
  
"So you're free. Where will you go now?" Ansem began to circle around Riku, a predatory look in his glowing eyes. "You can't get out of this world, and soon I will have the power of ultimate darkness anyway."  
  
"And where are you getting this power from?" Riku snapped out.  
  
"Kingdom Hearts of course."  
  
Riku circled around Ansem as well, keeping towards him, and waiting for the attack that would inevitably come. Small scarlet drops plopped onto the dark floor as Riku's chest continued to slowly ooze.  
  
"The origin of all hearts. A world that can only be entered through this shadow world. It is why I came here in the first place."  
  
"What went wrong?" Riku was tense and could barely stand in one place long enough to listen to Ansem explain. 'Why isn't he attacking me?'  
  
"My body. I entered here with that other king, but I was trapped here because only keyblade masters can travel into the shadow world."  
  
"The other king, he was King Mickey right?"  
  
"The rat, yes."  
  
"What happened to him? Is he trapped in here somewhere too?"  
  
Ansem snorted. He crossed his arms and looked away from Riku as he thought about what he was going to tell the boy and what he shouldn't.  
  
"Mickey knew what I was planning, and being a keyblade master he was able to open the door to Kingdom Hearts...and did."  
  
"But, I thought you said the power of darkness was kept in there." Riku relaxed a little. There was really nothing he could do, if Ansem wanted to defeat him, he had the whole world at his command.  
  
"King Mickey knew that the heartless were escaping through another door anyway, so he opened the door to Kingdom Hearts and entered it, sealing it from me."  
  
As he spoke and remembered how close he had come to triumph, Ansem began to look angry. His eyes were bright orange, and his fists were clenched tightly. For the first time, Riku noticed something strange about Ansem. He was getting a feeling from him, different from what he got from Shadow or Maleficent. With them, he had felt the darkness inside them, stirring within them. Ansem was nothing, like an empty shell that had no life of its own.  
  
"Chit chat time is over." With a leap, Riku decided to take his chances. If he could make it to a doorway, maybe he could force it open since he was a keyblade master. The dragon blade flashed in his hands and he swung it heavily at Ansem. The man jumped back, but not quite fast enough.  
  
As the tip of the dragon blade sliced across Ansem's chest, his clothes were torn and the top half of his cape fell from his shoulders, fluttering to the ground.  
  
"You'll regret this." Ansem held both hands in front of himself, close together, and between them the darkness was sucked in and began to form something. In a flash there was a weapon in his dark tan hands. It curved out with dark purple and red dragon wings in both directions, like two dragon blades held hilt to hilt. "I have come to rather like this sword that Shadow showed to you. Hope you don't mind."  
  
Ansem twirled the dragon staff and slammed it down over Riku's head, the boy bringing up his sword just in time to block. But Ansem's weapon was much stronger and he swung it down and to the side, hitting the back of Riku's knees and tripping him.  
  
Riku swung the dragon blade to meet the center of Ansem's staff and tried to pin Riku to the ground. With a push, the boy managed to throw off the older man's body and climb to his feet.  
  
"What will this get you Riku? I have your body now. Even if you find a door, you'll never get your life back."  
  
The two held their identically colored weapons forward but Ansem spun his around a few times, showing it off. Then he stopped walking and slowly floated off of the ground. He hovered in the air for a few seconds before hurling the dragon staff at Riku. It spun like a boomerang and knocked the dragon blade out of Riku's hands.  
  
"I will get my body back." Running forward Riku sprung himself up at Ansem, tackling him straight in the chest and sending the man sprawling on the ground. He lay with his side on the ground, and for a second Riku saw a flash of something on Ansem's back.  
  
"What the...." Riku called his sword back to him and rushed forward, slicing his blade across Ansem's back, not doing any damage to the man's actual skin.  
  
He howled in pain and kicked at Riku, knocking the boy over.  
  
Riku's eyes widened when he saw something move up, and with it came the body that Ansem was controlling. It flickered from being Riku, himself, in a dark red and black outfit, to Ansem, with his white hair flowing over his bare chest. Dark black tubes were running into Ansem's back, but one was slashed off by Riku's most recent attack.  
  
He stood in awe of the enormous creature that rose out of the darkness, or more accurately, the darkness swirled together to become. The entire world wrapped around Ansem and a form took shape, the creature that Riku had seen a flash of when he read Ansem's mind.  
  
It's face was beastial, huge fangs and a long snout, but it's upper body was like a human's, thick chested and with enormous clawed arms. The black tentacles were coming out of the creature's chest and feeding directly into Ansem's body.  
  
Riku felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, the darkness seemed to be sucking the very life out of him as this creature bellowed at him. This explained how Ansem went from a well loved king to a conniving man of evil. This animal was the true master of the darkness, and Riku watched as his marionette rose up again and looked at him with those unearthly orange eyes.  
  
"I would love to continue this Riku, but your friend approaches. We have to get him to open the door for us, and you're in the way."  
  
The floor began to swallow Riku, the cold blackness running up his body.  
  
Ansem floated to the ground and the dark creature returned to hiding within it's world. Ansem walked straight up to Riku, who was slowly descending into the darkness, no doubt being sent wherever Ansem decided was the depths of darkness.  
  
As he approached, the world around them shifted. The creature was obviously controlling it, as Destiny Island appeared, as bright and cheerful as always, but empty like a playground without anyone playing on it. All the living things were missing, although the beach and the trees remained.  
  
Ansem looked around in surprise as his image flickered away, leaving only the body he was in. Riku looked into his own body's eyes, bright blue and green, but twisted with hatred.  
  
The boy in the black and red suit with the heartless brand on his chest walked forward and roughly grabbed Riku's falling chin in his black gloved hands.  
  
"I'll see you again Riku, don't think this is the end." The voice was his and yet it wasn't, reminding him of being in a dream.  
  
Leaning down, Ansem brought Riku's body to kiss his soul. Their lips were the same size and both as silky soft as he held him there, refusing to let the darkness have him completely.  
  
Ansem pulled back Riku's body and smiled at him, strands of silver hair falling in front of his face as the real Riku disappeared into the inky blackness that sucked him down.  
  
'This is it.'  
  
The blackness enveloped him and Riku felt it tugging on him, pulling him in every direction. He gave up, and let himself be pulled by it, sucked into it as if it were an ocean tide.  
  
The he sensed someone was nearby. Someone who was not dark like the rest of the world.  
  
A white flash erupted in front of Riku's eyes and he felt himself cut free from the thick darkness around him.  
  
"What?" He coughed out as the darkness left him exhausted in a pile on the floor. He could hear footsteps rushing around him, and there were flashes of white reflecting off the black floor.  
  
Riku lifted his head and saw a strange world around him. There were pools of darkness everywhere, moving and swirling with pairs of yellow eyes that stared out from the ooze. Behind the dark pools were large white columns that seemed to enclose the whole area.  
  
The silver haired boy sensed someone approaching behind him and he forced his body to stand and wobbled back and forth as he turned to see....a mouse.  
  
"Hiya!" The enormous mouse said and laughed, extending a white gloved hand to Riku.  
  
"Who are you?" Riku asked suspiciously.  
  
"I'm King Mickey, but you can call me Mickey." The king smiled again and Riku finally took his hand in a small handshake. Only then did Riku's sharp eyes catch what Mickey was holding in his other hand. It was long and gold, with a silver hilt and a silver blade on the end.  
  
"A keyblade."  
  
"Oh, you know what this is?" Mickey looked down at his blade and laughed. "Does that mean that you're Riku?"  
  
His aqua eyes narrowed at the small king. "How do you know my name?"  
  
"You are a fellow keyblade master, I know all about you.....and Sora too." Mickey looked as if he was about to continue when he drew his keyblade and threw it past Riku. It spun like a boomerang and went straight through the soldier heartless that had risen up from the pool of darkness.  
  
"Where are we?" He asked in awe.  
  
"Kingdom Hearts. The heart of all worlds, and where all darkness and light are kept."  
  
Riku was completely overwhelmed and sat down heavily on the hard floor. "This is too much."  
  
An oversized hand softly patted him on the shoulder but Riku didn't jump or flinch at all. For some reason, he trusted this Mickey person.  
  
"Don't worry Riku, Sora is still out there. We still have hope."  
  
"Hope? Hope for what?"  
  
Mickey looked around, checking that the heartless weren't going to rise up and try any attacks at the moment and sat down next to Riku. "As long as there is a keyblade master who is out in the world, Kingdom Hearts can be locked forever."  
  
"What?" Riku snapped. "I don't want to be locked in here forever."  
  
"We won't be locked in here forever." The mouse laughed and smiled to the boy. "The door to the darkness was opened by Ansem and I, before I realized what his plan was, it was too late." Mickey's high cheerful voice fell a little and he looked sadly to Riku. "But the door to the light hasn't been opened yet, we can always be free through there."  
  
"And what about the heartless?"  
  
"They can't pass through the door to the light, only the door to darkness. We have to make sure that Sora remains on the other side of the door, he is the only one who can help us now."  
  
"What if Ansem defeats Sora?" Riku said softly, his eyes unfocused.  
  
"Then everyone loses. With your body, if Ansem defeats Sora there will be no one to close the door to the darkness, and Ansem will have all the power of Kingdom Hearts."  
  
"But you said that Kingdom Hearts held both darkness and light. How can it?"  
  
"The heartless are the darkness, but the light keeps them in check. As keyblade masters, we are embodiments of Kingdom Hearts." Mickey shifted where he was sitting. "Sora and I were the light, and you..."  
  
"The darkness."  
  
Mickey nodded. "That's why Ansem can't use your body to open up Kingdom Hearts. With him in control, it is a dark body, and cannot gain enough power over this world t open the door."  
  
Riku leaned over and placed his head in his hands. This was too much, way too much. The comforting hand rubbed his back again, and Riku took a deep breath before sitting up and nodding to King Mickey.  
  
"I don't know if I get it all, but if there's any way I can help, I will."  
  
Mickey smiled and stood up, his attention seemed to be elsewhere. "Well, if you can help me keep the heartless away from the door, that would be a lot of help. Since Ansem is nearby, they've been acting up and trying to get out more often than usual."  
  
Riku brushed his pants off as he stood and tried to form the dragon blade. He focused and tried to draw the darkness to him, but it was useless. All his energy was gone, and the dragon blade refused to come to him.  
  
"Sorry Mickey. Without a body, and without his power, I'm useless." Frustration overwhelmed him and Riku screamed out into the small world, hearing his cracked voice echo off the walls. He let his head hang forward, without Ansem he was nothing. The man he hated the most was the only one who could give him what he wanted.  
  
"Riku, you're a keyblade master." To emphasize his point, Mickey tossed his gold keyblade and Riku caught it. The boy could feel the power of it, it sang to him. Slowly the blade changed, it grew black and sleek, and the end blade became scarlet and curved out.  
  
"You Riku, were given the dark keyblade. That is the only keyblade that can open people's hearts. It is very powerful."  
  
Riku tested the weight and swung the blade cautiously around. It felt good, but it wasn't his blade. With a quick toss, the blade landed in it's true owner's hands, gold and silver again.  
  
Mickey understood and took the front position, easily beating back the heartless that ventured out of the safety of the dark. Riku noticed the large white door for the first time, and remembered the mysterious door on Destiny Island that was in the wall of the cave.  
  
A sound rocked their world, an enormous rumbling sound.  
  
"Mickey, what was that?"  
  
"The darkness that controls Ansem. Sora must be fighting it."  
  
Running up, Riku flung himself against the white door. It didn't budge the slightest. There was a crack in it, and he pulled himself against it, looking through the crack into the familiar dark world. The creature he had seen connected to Ansem was hovering there, it's body was even bigger now that it wasn't concealed within the shadows. It seemed that it's body was a ship, all of it alive and pulsing.  
  
Something red went by and Riku's eyes immediately followed it. Sora was falling, as his friends were sucked into a dark portal. Riku watched helplessly as his friend fell through the darkness.  
  
"He needs your help Riku." Mickey tossed back over his shoulder.  
  
"How can I? I can't leave here, right?"  
  
"Speak to him. Your voice isn't held back by your body's limitations. He'll hear you."  
  
Deciding that it wasn't his place to second guess the king, Riku took a deep breath and half spoke, half yelled to Sora. "What? Giving up so easy Sora?"  
  
As Riku said this, Sora disappeared beneath the mists. Riku's eyes didn't blink, he wouldn't let himself look away. Then the boy in the red jumpsuit flew up through the mists and took out his keyblade, squaring off against Ansem and the creature.  
  
"Look out Riku!"  
  
A black claw wrapped around Riku's ankle and began to drag him back to the darkness, away from the door and from Sora. He spun around as he was pulled back and saw a small shadow heartless, it's antennae twitching as it pulled it's prize back.  
  
Reaching his hands out, Riku tried to find anything he could use as a weapon, and his hand strayed across a rock. Picking it up, he hurled it at the small heartless and it released him, squeaking angrily at him before running off.  
  
"Why are they still attacking me?" He went to stand next to Mickey, watching the mouse's back and doing what little he could to help.  
  
"Ansem has your body, but you are the heart and soul. They can sense that, and want your heart to feed on, even if it doesn't get them a body."  
  
"They want to eat me. Wonderful." For the first time in a while, Riku smirked.  
  
Another roar cut through the sounds of their own battle and the ground of their world shook back and forth.  
  
"What's going on?" Riku yelled to the king over the noise around them.  
  
"I think Sora must have won. Look." Mickey pointed to the heartless and the darkness they were fighting, as it crawled back to the corners of the world. "Why are they doing that?" He wondered aloud, but Riku just shrugged to him.  
  
There was a creaking as the door that connected Kingdom Hearts and the shadow world began to open, being pulled on from the shadow world.  
  
"It's Ansem!" Mickey cried out. Riku felt a flash of anger and ran for the door, knowing he couldn't escape but wanting to see Ansem fall.  
  
There was a rush of wind as the door flew open, and Riku's eyes were blinded by the light that shone around him. He could see Ansem gasping and curling up in pain. Then, his body went stiff, his arms and legs outstretched. Then Ansem disappeared into the light.  
  
Riku was thrown back into Kingdom Hearts and gasped heavily, sputtering as he felt something. With Ansem gone, his body had been returned to him, and he wasn't used to breathing quite yet. He ran his hands along his body, not able to believe that he had it back. And all to himself.  
  
"Come on Sora!" He heard a high strange voice call out from beyond the door. Riku looked to Mickey, who was holding off the massive amounts of heartless that were surging up to try and escape through the open door.  
  
"Go to him Riku." The mouse's smile never faded as he slashed through his enemies. Riku nodded and ran to the door he had been thrown from, trying to regain his balance now that he had a body again.  
  
He could see Sora. His best friend. His love. His last hope.  
  
"Bout time." Riku said playfully as he grabbed onto the door and looked into the deep sapphire eyes he had been missing.  
  
"Riku!" The brunette moved forward, past his two friends, and tried to go to Riku. The older boy knew that it couldn't be, and held his arm out, keeping Sora from going through the door.  
  
"You can't Sora. If you come in here, you'll be trapped too."  
  
The heroic boy looked down at the hand that was pressed against his chest. He grabbed it and held it tightly as he looked deep into Riku's eyes.  
  
"I don't care Riku. I won't let you do this."  
  
"I have to Sora. And don't worry, with your help, we won't be here forever." Riku threaded his fingers through Sora's and stood with him, feeling the warmth of his hand in his own. Donald and Goofy looked into Kingdom Hearts and called out to their King, but Mickey merely thanked them for guarding the keyblade master.  
  
"We have to close the door." Sora said, his voice choked as he let go of Riku's hand. Slowly, he pressed his hands against the door and began to push it closed.  
  
"Take care of Kairi until I get back, okay Sora?" Riku said, putting his whole body into trying to close the door. He could hear the snarls and screeches of the heartless behind him, growing more and more desperate at the door began to close.  
  
"I will find you Riku." Sora stopped pushing as he looked at Riku. Ignoring the warnings, Sora took a step forward, halfway into the door and grabbed Riku's shirt, pulling him forward.  
  
Riku stood between the two doors, still within Kingdom Hearts, and leaned his face forward, crushing his lips to Sora's. The boy felt real, it was the first time that Riku had truly kissed Sora. Sora's arms wrapped themselves around Riku's waist and held him close, as their lips meshed together. Riku's hand lay on the back of the smaller boy's neck and held them together.  
  
As their kiss broke, their eyes met, and Riku knew that Sora truly loved him. He took a step back, and his eyes told the keyblade master that this wasn't the end for them, they would see each other again.  
  
The door slammed close. 


End file.
